The Haze of Memory...or is That Propane?
We got an interesting project this time on the Hit Me With Your Best Shot Challenge; as part of a celebration of costume designer Orry-Kelly, we were offered a choice of three movies and asked to pick both a best shot and a best costume. I decided to go with a movie I saw a long time ago but remembered relatively fondly, and was also in color, thus showing off the costumes to better effect (otherwise, I would absolutely have gone with Some Like it Hot). So with that in mind, behold my review of Les Girls.
Les Girls certainly has a decent premise behind it. It’s not every day, after all, that you see a musical compared to Rashomon, especially when it’s supposed to be a light-hearted romp. While it’s entirely possible that humor and an exploration of differing perspectives can work side-by-side, I’d say this particular attempt doesn’t wholly work.
In broad terms, the movie has an overarching framing device with three semi-related stories providing most of the material. In the framing device, former theater dancer Sybil (Kay Kendall) has written a tell-all book about her career, and is now being sued for libel by one of her co-workers, Angèle (Taina Elg). At the libel trial, Sybil and Angèle tell their versions of what happened in the year that they worked for dancer Barry Nichols (Gene Kelly). As you can guess, there are several discrepancies between the testimonies, which causes even more friction between the dancers and their loved ones. This being a musical, we know everything will eventually be resolved happily, but unlike most musicals, I have some trouble figuring out how we got from A to B.
To be fair, some of my problems may just be the nature of the material. The whole point of the differing perspectives is to show the unreliability of memory and how people can twist the facts to make themselves look good. And if the three stories we saw covered the same events with a variety of differences, I don’t think I’d be as confused. Instead, what we get is three stories that talk about different events, with very little overlap between the tellings other than the characters involved. For example, Angèle claims that Sybil was an alcoholic, and Barry romanced her to help her kick the habit. Obviously, Sybil isn’t going to admit such a thing in her own narrative, but in the third act, when we get testimony from a third party, that aspect of things is never brought up (unless you count one throwaway line). None of the stories really line up with each other, so it’s hard to get a chronology or to even guess at what the real story is. In another story, leaving unresolved questions and making you wonder who, if anyone, is correct would be great. In a musical that has a number about ladies-in-waiting getting seduced by the king (complete with butt-revealing costumes), it feels out of place.
Due to the varying story elements, it’s hard to judge the other elements of the movie. All of the actors are fine (and credit where credit is due, Kelly doesn’t feel as smug as he does in a lot of his other projects), but it’s hard to fully sympathize with the characters when we don’t fully know what to believe about them. As for the music aspect of this musical, none of the numbers are particularly memorable, save the ladies-in-waiting song I mentioned. Not only that, but there’s surprisingly few songs; the story could just as easily have been told without them, which seems a little strange to me. Even the costumes, settings, and dance routines aren’t as good as they probably could have been, which is a little disappointing. It seems like the filmmakers were throwing everything they had at the story, and they weren’t even sure what to do with that.
While the movie has its moments, I don’t think I can really recommend it. There’s not a lot there for musical fans, and the moment you start thinking about it too much, things get more confusing than entertaining. It does, however, make a great jumping-off point if you’re in a mood to get philosophical. Maybe there’s a market for that.
***
As usual, the Best Shot first…
My choice this time around doesn’t have much to do with the plot, although given that there are technically three of them, that’s not surprising. No, I went purely for visual this time around, and found quite a beauty;
The ship set in and of itself is lovely, and I’m sure would be even more so when seen from the audience seats. But combining it with the red and gold drapes in the background, along with other evidence that this is in a theater, makes it look both practical and magical at the same time. And for the world of acting (be it on the stage or in Hollywood), that’s a nice balance to have.
As for the best costume…well, as I said, most of the clothes the girls wear, onstage or off, didn’t really stand out. A lot of it was variations on white, black, or other muted colors. But there was one notable exception early on, and that’s what I went with;
Angèle’s flower basket leotard is bizarre, but in a good way. It’s eye-catching, creative, and pretty, exactly what you want in a costume. Not to mention that it makes me want to see the whole routine this leotard is for; does the song have to do with flowers or a garden? Does she pluck flowers from it to throw into the audience? Unfortunately, we’ll never know. But hey, maybe the pattern is still floating around Hollywood somewhere, and it’ll turn up again one of these days. I’d be curious to see what movies nowadays would do with it.
Les Girls certainly has a decent premise behind it. It’s not every day, after all, that you see a musical compared to Rashomon, especially when it’s supposed to be a light-hearted romp. While it’s entirely possible that humor and an exploration of differing perspectives can work side-by-side, I’d say this particular attempt doesn’t wholly work.
In broad terms, the movie has an overarching framing device with three semi-related stories providing most of the material. In the framing device, former theater dancer Sybil (Kay Kendall) has written a tell-all book about her career, and is now being sued for libel by one of her co-workers, Angèle (Taina Elg). At the libel trial, Sybil and Angèle tell their versions of what happened in the year that they worked for dancer Barry Nichols (Gene Kelly). As you can guess, there are several discrepancies between the testimonies, which causes even more friction between the dancers and their loved ones. This being a musical, we know everything will eventually be resolved happily, but unlike most musicals, I have some trouble figuring out how we got from A to B.
To be fair, some of my problems may just be the nature of the material. The whole point of the differing perspectives is to show the unreliability of memory and how people can twist the facts to make themselves look good. And if the three stories we saw covered the same events with a variety of differences, I don’t think I’d be as confused. Instead, what we get is three stories that talk about different events, with very little overlap between the tellings other than the characters involved. For example, Angèle claims that Sybil was an alcoholic, and Barry romanced her to help her kick the habit. Obviously, Sybil isn’t going to admit such a thing in her own narrative, but in the third act, when we get testimony from a third party, that aspect of things is never brought up (unless you count one throwaway line). None of the stories really line up with each other, so it’s hard to get a chronology or to even guess at what the real story is. In another story, leaving unresolved questions and making you wonder who, if anyone, is correct would be great. In a musical that has a number about ladies-in-waiting getting seduced by the king (complete with butt-revealing costumes), it feels out of place.
Due to the varying story elements, it’s hard to judge the other elements of the movie. All of the actors are fine (and credit where credit is due, Kelly doesn’t feel as smug as he does in a lot of his other projects), but it’s hard to fully sympathize with the characters when we don’t fully know what to believe about them. As for the music aspect of this musical, none of the numbers are particularly memorable, save the ladies-in-waiting song I mentioned. Not only that, but there’s surprisingly few songs; the story could just as easily have been told without them, which seems a little strange to me. Even the costumes, settings, and dance routines aren’t as good as they probably could have been, which is a little disappointing. It seems like the filmmakers were throwing everything they had at the story, and they weren’t even sure what to do with that.
While the movie has its moments, I don’t think I can really recommend it. There’s not a lot there for musical fans, and the moment you start thinking about it too much, things get more confusing than entertaining. It does, however, make a great jumping-off point if you’re in a mood to get philosophical. Maybe there’s a market for that.
***
As usual, the Best Shot first…
My choice this time around doesn’t have much to do with the plot, although given that there are technically three of them, that’s not surprising. No, I went purely for visual this time around, and found quite a beauty;
The ship set in and of itself is lovely, and I’m sure would be even more so when seen from the audience seats. But combining it with the red and gold drapes in the background, along with other evidence that this is in a theater, makes it look both practical and magical at the same time. And for the world of acting (be it on the stage or in Hollywood), that’s a nice balance to have.
As for the best costume…well, as I said, most of the clothes the girls wear, onstage or off, didn’t really stand out. A lot of it was variations on white, black, or other muted colors. But there was one notable exception early on, and that’s what I went with;
Angèle’s flower basket leotard is bizarre, but in a good way. It’s eye-catching, creative, and pretty, exactly what you want in a costume. Not to mention that it makes me want to see the whole routine this leotard is for; does the song have to do with flowers or a garden? Does she pluck flowers from it to throw into the audience? Unfortunately, we’ll never know. But hey, maybe the pattern is still floating around Hollywood somewhere, and it’ll turn up again one of these days. I’d be curious to see what movies nowadays would do with it.