Model Shop (1969)

Director:

Jacques Demy

Writers:

Jacques Demy (writer)
Carole Eastman (english dialogue)

Release Date:

1 April 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Maybe Tomorrow. Maybe Never. Maybe.

Plot:

George Matthews is a young man who is having a bittersweet affair with a French divorcée in Los Angeles...

Plot Keywords:

Model | Architect | Infidelity | Repossession | Sequel

Cast

Anouk Aimée	...	Lola aka Cecile
Gary Lockwood	...	George Matthews
Alexandra Hay	...	Gloria
Carol Cole	...	Barbara
Tom Holland	...	Gerry (as Tom Fielding)
Severn Darden	...	Portly Man
Neil Elliot	...	Fred
Jacqueline Mille	...	Model No. 1
Duke Hobbie	...	David
Anne Randall	...	Model No. 2
Craig Littler	...	Rob
Hilary Thompson	...	Girl Hippie
Jon Lawson	...	Tony
Jean Sorel	...	Secretary
Jon Hill
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jay Ferguson	...	Jay (uncredited)
David Mink	...	Bearded Hippie (uncredited)
Ken Prymus	...	Short-Order Cook (uncredited)
Mildred Shay	...	(uncredited)
Fred Willard	...	Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)

Directed by
Jacques Demy

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jacques Demy		writer
Carole Eastman		english dialogue

Produced by
Jacques Demy	....	producer

Original Music by
Spirit

Cinematography by
Michel Hugo

Film Editing by
Walter Thompson

Production Design by
Kenneth A. Reid

Set Decoration by
Antony Mondello

Costume Design by
Gene Ashman
Rita Riggs

Makeup Department
Ben Lane	....	makeup supervisor
Carrie White	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John M. Poer	....	dga trainee
Herb Willis	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Les Fresholtz	....	sound
Arthur Piantadosi	....	sound
Charles J. Rice	....	sound supervisor

Music Department
Ralph James Hall	....	music editor (as Ralph Hall)
Marty Paich	....	conductor

Other crew
Shirley Ulmer	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1969) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

95 min (TCM Print)

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:M

Filming Locations:

Dockweiler Beach, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Harrison Ford was Jacques Demy's first choice for the main character instead of Gary Lockwood, but Columbia didn't want Ford, saying he wouldn't make any money. Demy's wife Agnès Varda shot a screen test of Ford, clips of which are included in her documentary The Beaches of Agnès (2008).

Quotes:

Lola aka Cecile:[Lola is modeling for George, whose photo session is just about over] You have only one left. If you want me to do anything...
George Matthews:I like what I've got.
Lola aka Cecile:You don't seem particularly interested in photography.
George Matthews:I'm not. I'm more interested in you. Besides, I don't think the guys who come here give a damn for the art of photography, do they?
Lola aka Cecile:I don't judge the customers. It's not my concern.
George Matthews:It's kind of degrading work, isn't it? Why do you do it?
Lola aka Cecile:To make my living... But I don't like this word, "degrading." After all, I don't know what YOU do, to make your living.
Lola aka Cecile:Me? Nothing, right now.
Lola aka Cecile:[laughs somewhat mockingly] Then you don't run the risk of degrading yourself by working.
George Matthews:You're French.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

The French New Wave comes to Los Angeles...not a big night at the movies, but pleasant enough

Gary Lockwood cuts an amusingly masculine presence on the screen: dressed in T-shirts and blue jeans, chain-smoking and driving a revamped jalopy--his hair combed down over his forehead like a teenage car mechanic--he's like a walking centerfold out of Tiger Beat. Lockwood plays an unemployed denizen of Los Angeles who follows peculiarly glamorous Anouk Aimée one afternoon down the city street and into a model shop (where men can photograph girls--look but don't touch). She's a French immigrant who'll be returning home soon (something to do with her papers), and he's been drafted and about to have his car repossessed. Certainly a one-night-stand is all these two lovelies can afford, but the things they talk about, the connection they make, may last a whole lot longer. Director Jacques Demy seems to have fallen in love with late-'60s L.A., and much of the movie is spent just following Lockwood around from place to place. It isn't right to say the picture meanders (it hasn't got agenda enough to actually meander), though it does feel mighty thin. Films based upon character discussion are apt to tire some viewers' patience, but those in the mood for a low-keyed, would-be love story could certainly do worse. Lockwood is cut from the same cloth as Adam Roarke or Robert Forster: boyish but solemn, perhaps a loner, and of very few words. Still, he connects with the audience right away on an intrinsic level (you trust him) and his final scene on the telephone is a winner. **1/2 from ****