The Golden Eighties

Delphine Seyrig as Jeanne Schwartz is the soulful center of Chantal Akerman’s exuberant pop musical, set in the hyper-artificial confines of a subterranean shopping mall. Jeanne and her husband own the Elegance clothing store, where they work with their son; the local heartbreaker, he is gazed at by the girls who work at the beauty salon across the corridor, but only has eyes for Lili, their boss. Meanwhile Sylvie at the coffee bar longs for her amour, who has gone to Canada to find his fortune, and Jeanne is suddenly brought face to face with her past in the form of a visitor from Kansas City. Akerman’s knack for combining comedy and pathos comes across in her lyrics, which make palpable economic and historical realities beyond the soap and bubbles.