Admittedly I was already aware of the basic plot before seeing this film, but even so I was absolutely mesmerised throughout the entire screening. Coppola's direction pulls out the best from the cast and the photography is at times simply stunning.
I only have 2 complaints, and they're fairly minor. The first is Josh Hartnett's constant mumbling of his lines - this is probably on purpose for his character but at times he was very hard to understand, if at all. The second was the casting of Kirsten Dunst as Lux Lisbon. Although she was excellent in the role, Lux was supposed to be the 2nd youngest at 14 years of age and Dunst is clearly older (she was 16 when the movie was filmed). When you see her alongside all the other sisters (in particular Cecilia the youngest) it's easy to understand why many of critics mistakenly thought Lux was the eldest daughter. However her performance was great regardless so it's only a picky problem.
All up, I'd give it 4.5 out of 5.
I only have 2 complaints, and they're fairly minor. The first is Josh Hartnett's constant mumbling of his lines - this is probably on purpose for his character but at times he was very hard to understand, if at all. The second was the casting of Kirsten Dunst as Lux Lisbon. Although she was excellent in the role, Lux was supposed to be the 2nd youngest at 14 years of age and Dunst is clearly older (she was 16 when the movie was filmed). When you see her alongside all the other sisters (in particular Cecilia the youngest) it's easy to understand why many of critics mistakenly thought Lux was the eldest daughter. However her performance was great regardless so it's only a picky problem.
All up, I'd give it 4.5 out of 5.