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From left: Linda Hunt, Tracy Ullman, Danny Aiello, Sally Kellerman, and Kim Basinger
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vision reporter Kitty Potter, who, spouting hilari­
eteran director Robert Altman is a
ous mispronunciations and malapropisms, ac­
specialist in collage. He excels at the
costs anyone of note; one of Altman’s gaffes is the
layering of sounds, snippets and sce­
use of a Southern accent to heighten the character’s
narios to create patchwork epics that
laughable banality.
make up for in scope what they some-
By the proverbial standard, one photographer
times lack in depth. Frequently eschewing scripts,
must be worth a thousand writers, and Altman
Altman has a penchant for tossing his characters
paints them— in the person of the smirking, pre­
into situations and letting them fend for them­
dacious Milo O ’Brannigan (Stephen Rea)— as
selves. This he has done with his latest film, called
all-powerful. One has to put up with their quirks,
either Ready to Wear, or Pret-a-Porter. Over the
though: In one humorous bit, an escaping murder
suspect (played consummately and cartoonishly
by Marcello Mastroianni) is caught on film by a
New York Times camerawoman. The gendarmes
are delighted, until it turns out she has docu­
mented only his clothes.
years Altman has pioneered sound-recording and
filming techniques to capture the myriad events
Clothes, after all, are the whole point. The
that can be unfolding in but one of his frames. The
genius of Ready to Wear is in its exploration of all
epitome, and perhaps the apex, of his work in this
the layers of meaning to the wearing— and the not
style is Nashville (1975), which seriocomically
wearing— of clothes. Altman shows us clothes as
dissects the worlds of politics and country music.
a commodity, an art form, a disguise, a statement,
Ready to Wear is no Nashville. But it is funny and
a hindrance. He invites us to consider people who
marvelous— on all levels, a spectacle.
wear clothes for a living; hints at the generational,
The material under Altman’s fond yet razor-
professional and class boundries of attire; and
sharp knife this time is the week-long Paris fash­
plays with the running gag of Mastroianni steal­
ion event known as the prêt-à-porter, where the
ing and wearing other character’s garments.
industry’s designers strut their wares twice yearly.
On the flip side, Altman reveals nakedness
Although it’s hard to picture him thumbing through
that is funny, nakedness that is sexual, and naked­
Women’s Wear Daily, the director has spoken of
ness that inspires reflection. The oft-discussed
a deep respect for the art of fashion and the talent
final scene— during which The Cranberries’
of its creators. In the midst of the flurry of the
Dolores O’Riordan sings, “You’re so pretty the
spring ’94 showings, he unleashed his actors on
way you are”— is a brilliant joke that resonates
the only partly suspecting players in the world of
with the weight of the historic burden we took on
haute couture, who thus become extras in the
with just one fig leaf. Shame, fear, embarrass­
movie.
ment, guilt, innocence— all this we think we can
For the most part, Altman spares those at the
cover up with artfully draped cloth.
creative end of fashion from his satirical scru­
Incomprehensibly, New York Times film critic
tiny— perhaps out of respect. He chooses to focus
Janet Maslin put Ready to Wear on her list of this
his cutting gaze mainly on the media who swarm
year’s 10 worst films. In spite of its flaws, Altman’s
the event. The magazine editors— official um­
quirky exposure of the frailties of humans and
pires of taste— he portrays as following each
clothes makes us think and laugh. It encourages us
other’s every move, calculating all the while,
to do what the courtiers in the fable about the
caught in the ever-present bind of predicting the
emperor’s new clothes forbade: look at preten­
“next big thing” without unwittingly finding them­
sion and hype and name them for what they are.
selves in the “sale” bin. They are represented here
An afterw ord about the dog shit: Some
with some fine comic turns by Linda Hunt, Tracy
tender souls have been repelled by the treadings in
Ullman, and Sally Kellerman. Lauren Bacall
merde that recur throughout the film. When I
shows up as a former Vogue editor, who, it turns
lived for six months in Paris, some years ago, I
out, is color blind.
learned that wags had transformed the French
Altman gives us journalists that, with other
word trottoir (sidewalk) into “crottoir” (shitwalk),
more important things on their minds, send stories
in reference to a certain minefield-like quality to
back home that they’ve transcribed from the French
the city’s streets. Altman, ever the court jester,
television news. Kim Basinger delivers the most
could hardly refrain from pointing out the fact that
memorable performance of the film as cable tele-
grime coexists with glamour.
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