Model (1981 film)

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Model
Model 1981.jpg
Theatrical release poster with models Apollonia van Ravenstein, Sara Kapp, and Pat Cleveland posing in furs
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Produced byFrederick Wiseman
CinematographyJohn Davey [1]
Edited byFrederick Wiseman
Distributed byZipporah Films
Release date
  • September 16, 1981 (1981-09-16)(U.S.)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Model [a] is a 1981 American documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman. [3] The film examines the modeling industry in New York City. [4] It was Wiseman's ninth documentary for WNET, a New York PBS station. [5]

Contents

The film follows the Zoli modeling agency, owned by Zoltan "Zoli" Rendessy. [3] [6] The film shows Zoli himself, his employees, models, clients, and photographers. [4]

Synopsis

Like all of Wiseman's films, Model has no narrator. [5] The film opens with a cityscape of lower Manhattan, showing the World Trade Center. [7] The film intercuts fashion sequences (runway shows, photo shoots, a pantyhose commercial), [5] Manhattan street scenes (roller skaters, an ambulance, "pedestrians who often look livelier than the models" [8] ), [3] [9] and shots of mannequins in store windows. [10]

The agency screens aspiring models and connects them with clients, [6] in the process reducing them to labels and stereotypes, [11] including the young executive, the all-American girl, the sophisticate, the streetsmart, and the Avon look. [12] Zoli tells one female aspirant who is 5 ft 6.5 in (168.9 cm) tall that the height is "too short for what we do... It's a problem," but in the following scene, a woman only 0.75 in (1.9 cm) taller is told, "I think we have some possibilities here." [13]

The film's longest sequence, running nearly 30 minutes, is the making of a television commercial for Evan-Picone pantyhose. [6] [14] The director instructs the male and female model to run into each other repeatedly. [15] For the same commercial, model Apollonia van Ravenstein's leg is photographed over 79 takes to create a four-second "peacock effect." [14] [16] The film shows the completed 30-second commercial. [10]

The film ends with a Oscar de la Renta runway show with twirling fashion models, [3] [17] followed by a closing shot of the Manhattan skyline at night. [18]

Cast

Production

The film was shot in 1979 and 1980 [13] on black-and-white film. [12] Wiseman selected the Zoli agency simply because "the idea of a model agency appealed to me ... and [Zoli] agreed." [19]

Wiseman did not research the modeling industry before filming, and described the editing process as discovery: "It is all a surprise since I know very little about the subject before I begin shooting. The idea is that the film should at least in part show what I learned as a consequence of the shoot and the long period of editing." [19]

Release

The film was broadcast on PBS on September 16, 1981. [3]

Reception

The film shows modeling as "monotonous, lacking autonomy, and devoid of internal satisfaction", [12] and as "a grind of rejections and retakes." [15] Novelist William T. Vollmann had expected the film to be glamorous and was surprised by its monotony. [15] Model examines how institutional routines become repetitive, drawing parallels to military operations. [20]

Wiseman contrasts the idealized imagery of advertising, which largely defines American capitalism, with the imperfections of the real world. [21] Before filming the pantyhose commercial, the New York City streets are cleaned. [22] Wiseman films another documentary crew shooting a shower interview with a male model, [23] revealing that the model is wearing underwear. [24] The film includes a street demonstration that appears to be a feminist protest, only to be revealed as the filming of a commercial. [25]

Model demonstrates Wiseman's increasing political consciousness. [26] Its examination of the Zoli agency can be applied to the broader industry of advertising, marketing, and retail sales, [21] contrasting the constructed hyperreality of advertising imagery with the bustle of the real world. [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ The title references both the film's subject and Wiseman's template for filmmaking. [2]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Benson, Thomas W.; Anderson, Carolyn (Fall 1984). "The Rhetorical Structure of Frederick Wiseman's Model". Journal of Film and Video. 36 (4). University of Illinois Press: 30–40. JSTOR   20687633.
  2. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 188.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Slavitt, David R. (September 23, 1981). "Culture Note". The New Republic . Vol. 185, no. 12. p. 40.
  4. 1 2 Unger, Arthur (September 14, 1981). "'Model,' Fred Wiseman's Latest Documentary: In the End, Brilliant". The Christian Science Monitor . Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 Shales, Tom (September 25, 1981). "Love It, Love It, Love That Face!". The Washington Post . Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 Brody, Richard (April 17, 2017). "Model". The New Yorker . Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  7. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 176.
  8. ↑ Bender, Abbey (February 6, 2020). "A Classic Film Reminds Us That Modeling Is Labor". Hyperallergic . Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  9. ↑ Armstrong 1983, pp. 5–6.
  10. 1 2 Armstrong 1983, p. 6.
  11. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 181.
  12. 1 2 3 Papson, Steve (August 1981). "Model". Humanity & Society . 5 (3): 278–281. doi:10.1177/016059768100500308.
  13. 1 2 3 Joseph, Alex (2015). "Second Looks: Two Films about Fashion by Frederick Wiseman". Fashion Theory. 20 (1): 103–116. doi:10.1080/1362704X.2015.1078137.
  14. 1 2 Armstrong 1983, p. 7.
  15. 1 2 3 Vollmann, William T. (2010). "In Memory of Us All: Some Scenes Out of Wiseman". Frederick Wiseman. New York: Museum of Modern Art. pp. 69–76. ISBN   978-0-87070-791-9.
  16. 1 2 Grant 2023, p. 211.
  17. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 126.
  18. ↑ Grant 2023, pp. 176–177.
  19. 1 2 Joseph, Alexander (December 2013). "Fashion Documents: Frederick Wiseman on His Sartorial Films". Vestoj. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  20. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 100.
  21. 1 2 Grant 2023, p. 167.
  22. 1 2 Grant 2023, p. 177.
  23. ↑ Armstrong 1983, p. 8.
  24. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 191.
  25. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 185.
  26. ↑ Grant 2023, p. 166.

Sources

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