Rating: NNNNN
There’s a problem of proportion in Denys Arcand’s first film in far too long. His true subject is the dangerous acceleration of the culture. But the film looks as if it’s about the fashion industry and its impact on the media. For one of Canada’s most renowned filmmakers to turn his satiric eye on something as inconsequential as the media buzz around fashion is like using artillery to swat gnats. We get noisy VJs, airhead talk-show hosts, predatory photographers, indifferent documentarians, all in pursuit of poor Tina (Jessica Paré), a top model who wants to be left alone. Nude photos of a model on the Internet? Apparently, the filmmakers have low standards for scandal. There’s very little that’s satirical here, because most of the real-world material is not merely beyond satire, but beyond insult. What could Arcand and his scenarist come up with that would be more outre than Andre Leon Talley descending from the Olympus of Vogue to judge the “braveness” of some couturier’s spring collection. “Fringe! My god, darlings, that makes such a statement!”
