Details
Movie Description
Robert Altman delivers another sprawling satire with READY TO WEAR, this time focusing his lens on the tightly knit, pretentious fashion industry. After a popular fashion leader dies during the most important industry gathering of the year in Paris, the question that it might have been murder creates chaos amongst the gathered participants and viewers. Affected parties include his widow, who uses this opportunity to rekindle an old relationship; the dead man's mistress, a designer who is forced to sell out to a Texas boot tycoon; three magazine editors, who all have their eyes on the same photographer; two American reporters whose affair keeps them in bed throughout the gathering; and two aging Roman lovers who are reuniting after many years. The film's many revolving characters and stories collide at the climax, an all-nude fashion show that stuns and excites the crowd. Altman's comedy boasts one of his most star-studded casts, and actors who are playing fictional characters intermingle with popular designers and models who play themselves. This fresh mixing of fiction and reality recalls the director's thrilling THE PLAYER, and the multi-layered story, the masterful NASHVILLE. Standout performances include the late Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Tim Robbins, Julia Roberts, Tracey Ullman, and a hysterical Kim Basinger.
Synopsis
As the fashion world gathers in Paris for the huge Pret-a-Porter (ready to wear) show, Robert Altman weaves his own comic fabric with the impossibly self-absorbed stories of the characters in this biting satire. As in SHORT CUTS, Altman traces half a dozen or more plots, bound in this case by a mystery involving the death of the much-hated head of the fashion council--and like THE PLAYER, the film features several real-life celebrities playing themselves.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
READY TO WEAR was released theatrically on December 25, 1994.
The film was shot on location in Paris, Moscow, and the United States.
The film's initial American title was PRET-A-PORTER, but Miramax feared this
French title would not fare as well as at the box office, so the studio renamed it
for American release to READY TO WEAR.
Industry Reviews
Aging auteur Robert Altman unleashes his arch wit on the fashion industry in "Ready to Wear," another star-studded kaleidascope that turns out to be as flimsy as the drapery on the supermodels sashaying down the runway. The subplots of murder and romance are froofy and transparent and the whole film seems designed for its climactic punchline where the latest fashion is unveiled: a bouquet of beauties displayed totally in the buff (a la the emperor has no clothes). Altman seems intrigued by human vanity, whether it be in war (M.A.S.H.), music (Nashville), movies (The Player), or L.A. (Short Cuts), but the fashion industry is already such a willing parody of itself that it seems a cheap target for his ire.
VideoLog by Muze - Casey Fahy
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