Prêt-à-Porter (1994)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers (WGA):

Robert Altman (written by) &
Barbara Shulgasser (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

The year's most seductive comedy!

Plot:

A fashion show in Paris draws the usual bunch of people; designers, reporters, models, magazine editors...

Plot Keywords:

Fashion Show | Paris | Fashion | Textile | Pregnant Woman Nude

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 1 win

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni	...	Sergei / Sergio
Sophia Loren	...	Isabella de la Fontaine
Jean-Pierre Cassel	...	Olivier de la Fontaine
Kim Basinger	...	Kitty Potter
Chiara Mastroianni	...	Sophie Choiset
Stephen Rea	...	Milo O'Brannigan
Anouk Aimée	...	Simone Lowenthal (as Anouk Aimee)
Rupert Everett	...	Jack Lowenthal
Rossy de Palma	...	Pilar (as Rossy De Palma)
Tara Leon	...	Kiki Simpson
Georgianna Robertson	...	Dane Simpson
Lili Taylor	...	Fiona Ulrich
Ute Lemper	...	Albertine
Forest Whitaker	...	Cy Bianco
Tom Novembre	...	Reggie

Also Known As:

Prêt-à-Porter: Ready to Wear (Canada: English title)
Ready to Wear

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Italian | Russian | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | Germany:6 (bw) | Iceland:L | Israel:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

Karl Lagerfeld successfully blocked the film's release in Germany by launching a lawsuit against the makers over a line spoken by Forest Whitaker's character that Lagerfeld had plagiarized all his designs.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the hotel room, Anne Eisenhower lifts a glass of wine from Joe Flynn's dining cart with her left hand and takes a drink. Joe makes a comment and it can be seen that Anne's left arm is up to her face (she is visible from the chest down), but when we cut back to Anne the glass is in her right hand as she puts it down.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Gossip Girl: Pret-a-Poor-J (#2.8)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Jump on Top of Me

An amusing shaggy-dog story, Emperor's New Clothes variety

It's hard to understand why so many reputable critics have vilified this film, which is in Altman's Nashville mode—and indeed includes many of the elements that made that earlier film such a critical success. Both address the hypocrisy and viciousness of a big money-making industry, by interweaving a number of loosely connected stories acted by a large celebrity cast. Some of these stories work better than others, in both films; as a previous reviewer noted, in Pret-à-Porter, they all hinge on the central theme of betrayal, with a cumulative effect that is saddening as well as amusing.

The principal difference between the two films lies in the way they end. Nashville is closed off (to my mind, unconvincingly) by an assassination at a political rally. Ready to Wear ends with a breathtakingly beautiful, even erotic acting-out of the story of the Emperor's New Clothes, where almost none of the fashion-industry types realize that the bankrupt designer has clothed all of her models in...nothing. The only one who does get the joke is the clueless and incompetent reporter (Kim Basinger, from Texas, doing a fine retake on Geraldine Chaplin's annoying role in Nashville), who stalks off in a huff.

Apparently lots of critics stalked off in a huff, too. That's too bad, since the film has lots of good qualities. But you miss the point if you don't realize that it's all leading up to that big shaggy-dog-story punchline.