The Last Showgirl: Reflecting on Our Youth Obsessed Culture

When the actress Michele Yeoh accepted the best actress Oscar for her performance in the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All At Once at the age of sixty, she famously quipped, “And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you that you are ever past your prime. Never give up.” 

Yeoh’s remark was a dig at former CNN commentator Don Lemon, who had recently commented that presidential candidate Nikki Haley, at 51, was past her prime. But it also reflected the widely held view that our society tends to discard people, or at least downgrades them — especially women — when they reach a certain age. The entertainment industry is deeply implicated in this.

Once a woman hits 40, the opportunities in front of the camera start to dry up even if she is famous. Furthermore, if a woman was considered to be pretty or sexy in her youth, her chances of transitioning to a mature role are slim unless she finances her own material, as many over 40 actresses are doing these days. 

Demi Moore, 62, was recently awarded the Hollywood Foreign Press’s Golden Globe for best actress for her role in The Substance,  a film depicting society’s obsession with youth. Shocked and humbled by the award, the actress expounded on Hollywood’s tendency to pre-emptively categorize performers, explaining in her acceptance speech that 

Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me I was a popcorn actress…. That I could do movies that were successful and made a lot of money, but that I couldn’t be acknowledged. I bought in, and I believed that. That corroded me over time, to the point where I thought a few years ago that maybe this was it. Maybe I had done what I was supposed to do.

Moore then held up her Golden Globe and baptized it as a  “marker of my wholeness” and a reminder that “I do belong.”

Pamela Anderson, 57, best known for the 1990’s series Baywatch, is the latest “femme d’un certain âge” to receive critical acclaim for her acting ability. The former Playboy playmate was nominated for best actress by both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild for her performance as Shelly, an aging Las Vegas showgirl in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl . Like Moore, Anderson now has a strong chance of being nominated for the best actress Oscar. 

Coppola’s film concerns the imminent closing of a long-running Vegas show, Le Razzle Dazzle, and the impact this has on the lives of Shelly and the other women in the company. The show’s stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista) is more fortunate in that he was hired by the replacement act. The film’s most compelling moment takes place near the end of the story, when after 30 years with Le Razzle Dazzle, Shelly finds herself auditioning  for another Vegas show.

While Shelly shows up determined to ace the audition, the director (Jason Schwartzman) is unimpressed and cuts her effort short. When Shelly tries to extract from him what he wants from her performance, he essentially tells her that she has limited dance skills and that her 1980’s playbook doesn’t work anymore. “What you sold was young and sexy. You aren’t either anymore.”

Shelly’s response to this two-sentence dismissal of her 30 year career is a palpable mix of emotional pain and unrelenting determination to triumph over these seemingly impregnable circumstances. She is at a difficult cross-roads. As an uneducated over-the-hill dancer, her career options are limited. She could become a cocktail waitress like her friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis) did when her dancing career ended. And while she is willing to consider that option, Shelly remains fiercely proud of her career as a Vegas showgirl and refuses to take on any guilt for having continued to work as a dancer while raising her daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd).

The Last Showgirl is an emblematic film that is about more than just the story of one dancer or of what happens to women when they get older. It is also the story of the changing dynamics of the entertainment industry and the people that it employs. The Las Vegas casinos always had a place for their former showgirls. Once they were no longer performers, they could get jobs as cocktail waitresses or hostesses.

But now our youth obsessed culture is displacing them with younger, prettier girls. For instance, the film includes a scene where Annette, who desperately needed to earn money, was sent home from her casino server job on a slow night while the younger women stayed to work the floor.

Coppola’s film also illustrates the shifting tastes of the public. Le Razzle Dazzle, a sexy show with elaborate costumes in the spirit of Paris’s  legendary cabaret show The Folies Bergère, has been slowly losing its audience in favor of more overtly sexual fare, Consequently, even the younger members of the Le Razzle Dazzle ensemble, such as Jodie (Kiernan Shipka ) and Marianne (Brenda Strong), are having difficulty finding a new dance gig that is both tasteful and professionally satisfying. 

Strong (Zack and Cody)  and Shipka (Mad Men)  are former child actors. Their presence in The Last Showgirl  is a reminder that not all cute little girls successfully transition to young adult roles.

The Last Showgirl is a  beautiful introspective film. Gia Coppola is to be commended for her creative vision and for  assembling such a talented cast. Anderson has been truly reborn as an actress in this role of a lifetime. She delivers a mesmerizing performance breathing passion, pride, and pathos into Shelly. Jamie Lee Curtis, who finally received her first Oscar nod for best supporting actress in Everything Everywhere All At Once,  is also wonderful as the desperate but ever hopeful Annette. Bautista, Shipka, Lourd, and Strong are also first rate. I highly recommend The Last Showgirl as an engaging look at a woman, an industry, and a society in the throes of transition.

READ MORE from Leonora Cravotta:

A Christmas Carol’s Lasting Impact on Holiday Movies

Three Movies to Watch This Holiday Season

The post <i>The Last Showgirl</i>: Reflecting on Our Youth Obsessed Culture appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.