(3 of 3)
Coppola points to one possible antidote for materialism: numbness. "That side of our culture is fun to look at in small doses," she says. "I definitely overdosed on stuff by the end of the shoot." As for Luhrmann, a central question behind his film was how to make a movie in which every object is desirable but, by the end, "you almost choke on it."
Third acts aside, nothing can change what the audience has seen earlier in these films, including close-ups of shining weapons, slinky dresses and sparkling diamonds. Zoom in enough and it's not overwhelming. No matter what else happens, the stuff is seemingly blameless. More than blameless: beautiful.
"There's nothing wrong with stuff, though that cannot be the purpose in your life," says Luhrmann. "I'm not anti-stuff. I love a beautiful suit."