HELL ON HEELS: THE BATTLE OF MARY KAY
US, 2002, 100 minutes, Colour.
Shirley Mac Laine, R.H. Thomson, Barry Flatman, Rachel Crawford, Shannen Doherty, Parker Posey.
Directed by Ed Gernon.
Hell on Heels is the true story of Mary Kay Ash and her cosmetics empire. It is a pleasingly fictionalised version of her story and her career. The film is also a tour-de-force for Shirley Mac Laine, always a strong presence on screen, when she was young and now as she approached seventy.
Mary Kay Ash is a kind of religious crusader as well as a businesswoman: always saying God first, family second, career third. She is the perfect made-up artist, saying that she wanted to bring women’s interior out through make-up, hair and style. She ruled her empire fairly ruthlessly but always with a benign face. She was dependent on her son, Richard, played by R.H. Thomson.
The film shows a dramatic competitiveness with another company headed by Barry Flatman as Dick Heath. However, the driving force is his wife, Jinger Heath, played with relish by Parker Posey. The film highlights the clashes of methods between the two.
The setting is, of course, the artificial world of the beauty industry as well as home sales with a lot of emphasis on the many saleswomen who went door-to-door for Mary Kay. There is a kind of sect adulation of Mary Kay in the way that people respond and dedicate their lives to her.
There is straightforward narrative but it is punctuated frequently by close-ups of Shirley Mac Laine as Mary Kay doling out pieces of wisdom as pieces of irony.
Much of the film looks like icing on a cake, the style for this kind of biography.
1.An entertaining portrait of Mary Kay Ash? The cosmetics industry? American business?
2.The environment of Mary Kay’s life, work? Her business offices, the seminars she held, the religious fervour? Fashion shows and competitions? The world of beauty, hairstyling, make-up? Credible? The musical score, the songs, the tone?
3.Shirley Mac Laine as Mary Kay, Shirley Mac Laine approaching seventy, her continued verve, dominance, ironic touches? The shifts in moods from affirmation to ruthlessness? The portrait of Mary Kay: learning about her business, her relationship with her son, dependence on him, yet ruling him? Her wanting to meet all her sales personnel? Her performance at the seminars, the religious fervour, the music, the declarations and confessions? Her attitude towards Dick Heath and his wife? Welcoming the challenge? Stealing their ideas about colour grading? Her interactions with people, the insertions of her looking straight to camera and her observations on life, wisdom? Her getting older, her son trying to persuade her to give up, acknowledge the realities of the business? Her doing so, being absent from the award-winning ceremony, with her granddaughter and making her up? A humorous and insightful portrait of an eccentric American businesswoman?
4.The contrast with Dick Heath and Jinger? The board meetings, Dick Heath preferring to play golf, the concerns about the firm, the accountants and his finally resigning and giving them the bad news? Jinger and her personality, her dominance, taking over the board meetings, stealing ideas from Mary Kay, getting a lot of salespeople, training them? Her idea about colour for each woman? Mary Kay taking the idea? Being frantic, wanting to sue? Her spending money frivolously, the planes, the house? The confrontation by the accountant? Her skill, lack of skill, her verve? A darker portrait than Mary Kay?
5.The saleswomen, their going to the seminars, their loyalty to Mary Kay, adulation? Their work? Trying to persuade other women to join up – the scene in the supermarket and the fight and the throwing of eggs between representatives of the two firms? The complete loyalty, the discussions, the vying for the role of best salesperson of the year? Lexie and her campaign, the support, her collapse when Mary Kay could not be present, quoting Mary Kay to get her back on her feet, winning, her joy? The contrast between the styles of the women for the two companies?
6.Richard Rogers, his love for his mother, working behind the scenes, the business sense? His frustration with her, pandering to her, finally confronting her? Success?
7.The hoopla behind the American industries, the showmanship? The reality of the businesses, success and failures? A humorous variation on insights into the business world?
