The Golden Eighties

What do you get if you mix the Hollywood musical's pastel-hued worldview with Chantal Akerman's feminist formalism? The answer is 'Golden Eighties', a spectacular film about life in a shopping center. Between Lili's hair salon, the Schwartz family's clothing store, and Sylvie's café, employees and customers cross each other's paths as infatuations emerge, relationships falter -- and old feelings return. The characters talk, sing and dance their way through it all, accompanied by the shampoo girls of the hair salon, who act as a kind of Greek chorus.

Delphine Seyrig plays Jeanne Schwartz, the mall's empowered matriarch. She tries to stay together on both family and business, but when a man from her past suddenly appears, Jeanne's restrained facade is also put to the test. With its song numbers, choreographies and exuberant colours, 'Golden Eighties' stands as the direct contrast to the strict formalism found in Akerman and Seyrig's previous collaboration, 'Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Brussels'. In this film Seyrig is allowed to be expressive, humorous and emotionally open.

Director: Chantal Akerman
Starring: Lio, Pascale Salkin, Delphine Seyrig, Fanny Cottençon
Country/year: Belgium, France, Switzerland, 1986
Running time: 99 min.
Formato: DCP
Language: English subtitles
Age limit: Allowed for children over 15

Part of the series: Chantal Akerman's fictions
Chantal Akerman was one of the most form-conscious and innovative filmmakers of her generation. Her fiction films range from melodrama and musical to romantic comedy and radically concentrated chamber plays and testify to an incredible curiosity to explore the possibilities of fiction.