Golden Eighties
Director: Chantal Akerman Run Time: 96 min. Release Year: 1986 Language: French with English Subtitles
Starring: Delphine Seyrig, Fanny Cottençon, Lio, Myriam Boyer, Pascale Salkin
The exuberant enchantments of the singing, dancing musical meet the feminist, formalist sensibility of cinematic visionary Chantal Akerman in this uniquely captivating vision of love and survival in the age of late capitalism. Amid the consumerist wonderland of a shopping mall, a cadre of store employees bounce in and out of one another’s arms in a cycle of breakups, makeups, misunderstandings, and reunions, their romantic roundelay punctuated by imaginatively stylized production numbers. Working with frequent star Delphine Seyrig and a remarkable team of writers, Akerman deftly balances the shiny pop pleasures of the genre with piercing variations on her signature themes. – Janus Films