FROM the moment the announcement came that Baz Luhrman, the director of Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge was preparing his own take on one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century, F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there was always going to be a divided audience. In some ways it was an inspired choice.

Who better to epitomise the roaring 20’s, than a man who made such a dazzling show of hedonism in 1890’s Paris. However this is also a director who paints in very theatrical terms and a risk of losing the subtle nuances and emotional heart of the story.

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) comes to New York filled with hope and a chance of making a name for himself. He takes a tiny cottage in between a range of mansions, one in the shadow of an enormous palace owned by the mysterious Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). 

Across the river lies old money and Nick’s cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) and her boorish husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Nick finds himself invited to one of Gatsby’s hugely lavish parties, everyone else just turns up, and befriended by the extraordinary man.

However Gatsby has an ulterior motive, having fallen in love with Daisy some five years previously only to lose her when he didn’t have the money to give her the life she wanted. Nick becomes a witness to the rekindling of their love affair, but the path of true love never did run smooth.

The Great Gatsby is one of the most visually stunning films you’ll see all year, with picturesque shots of New York zooming over to Gatsby’s mansion in Long Island – frenetic partying captured in a style anyone who has seen Lurhman’s previous work will appreciate and enjoy.

Fans of the book will probably hate this version, but anyone else will enjoy a lavish feast for the senses. There are some lovely personal moments as well, but the central love affair doesn’t quite have the emotional impact it needed to make you care enough.

DiCaprio is perfectly cast as Gatsby, Mulligan is somewhat upstaged by the scenery and Edgerton, who steals the show. It’s a rip-roaring and bold take that is at times a little shallow but given that is what the book is ultimately about – could be the point.

7/10

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