Pamela Anderson is Shelly, the oldest dancer in one of the oldest revue shows in Las Vegas. Shelly has been part of the “Razzle Dazzle“ Ensemble for 30 years, and now the show is closing. This means that Shelly isn’t only only losing her job, but also her social environment and ultimately her place in the world. Anderson plays Shelly as a tough person who has advocated for herself in show business for 30 years on one hand, and on the other, as someone naive and dreamy. Time and again, she sacrificed security and family for the dream of glamour and happiness performing and she would probably do it again, even if the price she has to pay for it becomes ever more clear. Shelly’s short-sightedness, her desire to only look the immediate present, preferably through tulle, feathers and glitter, is reflected in the visuals. Gia Coppola, the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola and niece of Sofia Coppola, tells her story with such a shallow depth of field that most of the backgrounds are seen as if through a veil, sometimes even the characters are not entirely sharp. In this fog of her inner spaces – almost all of the scenes are backstage or in Shelly’s apartment – Shelly tries to reorient herself, but unlike her younger colleagues who are already looking for new roles, or her best friend Annette (a fantastic Jamie Lee Curtis), who deals with a similar situation with cynical realism and a lot of alcohol, she is mainly lost. THE LAST SHOWGIRL doesn’t provide much more than that, but in some moments, the film perfectly manages to capture the dark side of “Follow Your Dream“ – the lack of prospects that await people in show biz who aren’t one of the few success stories and don’t have a clever plan B.

Hendrike Bake (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy