Pret-A-Porter (aka Ready To Wear) (1994)

A fragmented but often engrossing tart, sometimes amusing dark comedy from Robert Altman. The term Altmanesque has come to mean a multiple character storyline with the characters criss crossing throughout the movie, the film’s aims seemingly unfocused until the film’s finale when there is clarity. Like his masterworks NASHVILLE and SHORT CUTS, PRET-A-PORTER follows this structure during fashion week in Paris as fashion designers, models, journalists, buyers, celebrities etc. congregate for the annual collections. Except that this year, a mysterious death disrupts the usual festivities. When sticking to the fashion world which is ripe for satire, Altman often hits a cynical bull’s-eye but when he wanders away to the peripheral stories like Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins as two American journalists stranded without luggage in a Paris hotel room or Danny Aiello and Teri Garr as a buyer and his mistress, it feels like filler. Michael Legrand provides a delicate score and the pop alternative soundtrack is terrific. The massive cast includes Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee, Kim Basinger, Forest Whitaker, Sally Kellerman, Tracey Ullman, Lauren Bacall, Stephen Rea, Jean Pierre Cassel, Lili Taylor, Rupert Everett, Cher, Harry Belafonte, Jean Rochefort, Michel Blanc, Linda Hunt, Richard E. Grant, Rossy De Palma, Lyle Lovett, Francois Cluzet and Ute Lemper.