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CinemaSerf6/10

May 24, 2023

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Unfortunately this is rather a dry look back at the life of this visionary and entrepreneurial lady. It certainly offers a feast of archive film, VT and photography but for the most part, the narrative is relayed in a slightly adulatory fashion by her co-workers, and with the exception of her godson Jasper Conran, the majority of the contributors will have little traction with any but the most closely involved in the industry amongst the audience. The chronology itself is interesting enough, depicting well the whole vibe of London in the 1960s: the "scene"; the music, the first real throes of post war liberation, the commencement of the process for real gender equality, and the soundtrack is used sparingly to illustrate that. Sadly, though, and perhaps because so many of her contemporaries are no longer alive, there is just something remarkably static about this. You are shown images time and time again in a quickly framed, wham-bam sort of fashion, but somehow it doesn't resonate, or stick - it's like looking through some old editions of "Vogue" - there is little sense of the character or the personality of either her, or her larger than life husband. It's just all too one-dimensional to captivate - and for me, anyway, it just didn't.