MODEL SHOP

France/US, 1968, 96 minutes.
Anouk Aimee, Gary Lockwood, Alexander Hay.
Directed by Jacques Demy.

Model Shop belongs to a fashion of film-making in the US in 1968-69. A number of continental directors went to America to have a look and film their impressions. The most famous example of this is Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point. Claude Lelouch made his film in the light vein, A Man I Love. Truffaut made a thriller, The Mississippi Mermaid. The romantic Jacques Demy ( Lola, Bay of Angels, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort) wrote and directed Model Shop. It is very much a French film made in English in America. America as a place, particularly Los Angeles, seems to have fascinated Demy. His camera roves over the city and the variety of people who live there.

The hero is an idealistic dropout with the prospect of the draft before him. (Demy's social comment is centred on individuals and is gentle rather than caustic or biting.) Demy also seems to be interested in the individual's finding himself (a French-style pre-occupation) in the middle of modern American pressures and the modern ethos. The film becomes rather verbose and 'philosophical' towards the end in a way that American films are not. The device Demy uses for his film is to make it a sequel (after eight years) to his earlier film, Lola.

Anouk Aimee plays the same role and the film's dialogue recapitulates the events of the first film. However, Model Shop can stand by itself as a film. The question is whether French styles translate well into English or whether the dialogue and incidents seem too contrived.

1. This is a French film, made in America in English. Is this obvious? How? How would an American director (and screenwriter) have handled this theme?

2. What kind of dropout was George? was he irresponsible? lazy? selfish? self-centred? idealistic? What was wrong with him?

3. What qualities did George have? Why hadn't he achieved much by the age of 26? How important was the prospect of the draft for him?

4. what kind of girl was George's girlfriend? Did she love him? Did he love her? Was she right in urging George to do something with his life?

5. Demy seems to be fascinated with Los Angeles as a city? George says he likes it, so does Lola. Much of the footage of the film is photography of the city and driving around its streets. Did the city of Los Angeles come across as a character in the film?

6. We meet many of George's friends and associates. What picture of the American people does this build up? Is it a favourable picture?

7. Why was George attracted to Lola?

8. Were you shocked at the Model Shop? Were you surprised to find Lola there? was this consistent with her first appearances in the film?

9. How did Anouk Aimee's acting of the photography scene convey her whole attitude towards her job?

10. Why did George spend the car money on Lola?

11. What did George's talking to his parents show us about him and about them?

12. How was the anti-war theme brought out - George's reaction to the draft, fear of death, his friend's reactions, his father's advice?

13. Why did George break-up with his girlfriend? Who was in the right, who in the wrong?

14. What did their long discussion about their lives and feelings reveal about each of them? Was this discussion effective cinema? Why?

15. Why did George go back to Lola? Why did he insult her? Did he love her or was he full of self-pity?

16. Was the end inevitable? How had this affair affected Lola? How had it changed George? was his final phone call credible?