I Don't Normally Advocate Reanimating the Dead...

...but in this case, the result is almost epic. And stacking Charlize Theron in the same league as Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and other icons of glamour, under the roof of the Château de Versailles, doesn't smart all that much either. It was a quality choice. Requisite PR byte:

Our wish was to make everyone take part in a timeless, mythical and contemporary adventure, embodying the values of Dior. To help us achieve this task between dream and reality, we have chosen to put our trust into the hands of filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, who has risen to the challenge in a most remarkable way.

-- CEO Guillaume Pannaud, of TBWA\PARIS.

Pas mal, guys, pas mal. The campaign went live yesterday and I'm hoping to see more development around this theme, because it would be a shame to leap into the stars like this and then fall flat with a series of weak follow-ups. Or no follow-up, just an aggressive TV placement campaign. Which is what often tends to happen with even the best perfume ads.

Nostalgia Ravaged in Name of 'Anti-Retro'

The appearance of Citroën's DS3 at the end of each piece above is such anticlimax, especially as you feel yourself get drawn into the grit of the filming, the weight of the sounds. Icons this powerful, speech this rich, shouldn't be used for selling cars -- though to be fair, using them to sell anything is pretty much always a risk, riddled with critique. My heart breaks into a million little styrofoam pieces.

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