Who Are You, Polly Magoo? (1966)
"Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?" (original title)

In this excoriating satire of the fashion industry, Polly Maggoo is a 20-year-old Brooklyn-born fashion model in Paris, on the runway at the big shows where magazine editor Ms. Maxwell is ... See full summary »

Director:

William Klein

Writer:

William Klein (screenplay)

Stars:

Dorothy McGowan, Jean Rochefort, Sami Frey

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dorothy McGowan	...	Polly Maggoo (as Dorothy MacGowan)
Jean Rochefort	...	Grégoire Pecque
Sami Frey	...	Le prince Igor / The Prince
Grayson Hall	...	Miss Maxwell
Philippe Noiret	...	Jean-Jacques Georges, le journaliste / Reporter
Alice Sapritch	...	La reine-mère / The Queen Mother
Fernando Arrabal	...	(as Arrabal)
Guy d'Avout
Roger Constant
Francis Dumoulin
Luce Fabiole
Isabelle Garçon
Violette Leduc
Michèle Loubet
Marie Marc

Storyline

In this excoriating satire of the fashion industry, Polly Maggoo is a 20-year-old Brooklyn-born fashion model in Paris, on the runway at the big shows where magazine editor Ms. Maxwell is the reigning opinion maker. The ridiculous passes for sublime. Polly becomes the subject of an episode of a vapid TV news documentary series called "Qui êtes-vous?" and is pursued by the filmmaker and by the prince of Borodine, a small country in the Soviet bloc. We watch as the documentary is shot, we await Polly's arrival in the principality, we observe a lunch in the suburbs, and we learn of her childhood. Is there more to Polly than her pretty face? Is anything below the surface?

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Plot Keywords:

fashion | satire | absurd humor | mod | france | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

21 October 1966 (France)

Also Known As:

Poia eiste, Polly Maggoo?

Company Credits

Production Co:

Club des Produceteurs

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in We Are the Mods (2009)

User Reviews

Sometimes interesting, always incoherent

Absurdist comedy is a tricky thing to get right. This movie manages well in the opening scenes, which involve a bizarre fashion show and model Polly being propositioned by a string of losers on the street, and at its best it is reminiscent of the early films of Richard Lester. The director, however, has no interest in, or is incompetent at, story telling, and the film becomes a hodgepodge of miscellaneous nonsense. Sometimes it is still interesting, and it is always visually striking, but at times the movie becomes so random, with characters speaking in long sequences of non-sequitors, that it was painful. At best, this is an interesting curio, but as a movie it's a failure.