by Baz Luhrmann
Beyond Films
Redheadedgirl: THIS MOVIE IS SO GOOD
Carrie: I KNOOOOOWWW. Have you seen it before?
Redheadedgirl: Of course!
I just get reminded EVERY TIME. Time after time!
Carrie: I always feel that way too! Every time I like it better and better.
Elyse: Okay here we go.
Redheadedgirl: OH MY GOD. Gia Carides, who plays Liz Holt in Strictly Ballroom?
Was also Nikki in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Amanda: Now that RHG mentioned that Liz is the same actress as Cousin Nikki from MBFGW, I cannot unsee it.
Redheadedgirl: Please allow me to take this opportunity to post videos of some of my favorite paso dobles.
Amanda: I should note that I had to watch this movie a few times to full understand what was going on because it’s so quirky and weird at times!
Carrie: I think that’s why it’s better every time – the first time it’s all, “What did I just watch? I mean, this was great, but when I did I pick up this LSD habit?”
Amanda: Low-fives are also a thing in this movie. Do people still do that? I haven’t given a low-five while sober in ages.
Also, Ken the dancer with the white hair, reminds me so much of Ric Flair the wrestler.
Sarah: Ric Flair dude reminds me of someone else.
The movie description is hilarious: “gifted hoofer Scott Hastings is forced to take a graceless neophyte as his new partner.”
I think there may be a need for shirts that say “GIFTED HOOFER.”
Amanda: That’s going on a business card. Amanda Diehl: Graceless Neophyte
Sarah: Done.
Amanda: The timeline of this movie always throws me because characters are doing interviews like a sort of mockumentary, but where do these interviews fall during the events of the actual movie. Like obviously, they’re right after Scott’s big fuck up, but what about the rest of the stuff and when he meets Fran.
Carrie: Don’t overthink. Just let the glitter wash over you.
Amanda: Of course, how silly of me, Carrie.
Scott’s mom physically reminds me a lot of my grandmother. Same makeup style, same hair.
Sarah: The gold glitter pant suit looks very comfy. I wonder if we should get some for RT next year.
Amanda: Yes, you should.
Sarah: “Where the main goes, the lady must follow.” Oh, dear Lord.
Carrie: A lot of this movie is about how people allow themselves to be defined by other people and by arbitrary judgements, and what happens when you challenge that.
Sarah: Dance Federation President: even his EYEBROWS are smug.
Also, blue eyeshadow makes your teeth look really white. Especially if your skin looks very orange.
Amanda: Welp, probably should switch that out of my makeup routine.
Sarah: AND WOW COAT FLOUNCE.
Carrie: The amount of flounce in this movie, both in terms of fabric and attitude, is unparalleled.
Amanda: You could probably play a drinking game where you take a sip for every flounce.
And when someone says “bogo pogo.”
Carrie: You wouldn’t last more than about 30 min and you’d miss a lot of Paul’s cute little butt that way.
Amanda: Is the bogo pogo even a real dance?
Carrie: Fran’s pre-makeover wardrobe is pretty much what I wore for about 10 years.
Also I want to see a makeover that doesn’t involve the heroine getting rid of her glasses. We need those. At least in MBFGW she used contacts, but I can’t wear them.
Amanda: I like how Fran lapses into Spanish when she’s angry.
Carrie: Me too!
Sarah: The whole solo dance scene… it’s like it’s trying to be Flashdance, not quite there.
Amanda: The actress who played Fran was an extra in Moulin Rouge.
Redheadedgirl: The actress who played Fran is also the head dance teacher in Dance Academy.
Sarah: OH SHIT. “You’re a gutless wonder.” Go ahead, Fran.
Carrie: I adore her. Frankly, I think the only problem with this movie is that Scott does not deserve that awesome that is Fran.
Sarah: I think heels would be a lot more comfortable for everyone when worn with good ankle socks. Let’s bring that back.
Carrie: Or just abolish heels, which are demonic. I’m just saying.
Redheadedgirl: Heels have their place.
Carrie: Yes, they do: in Hell.
Sarah: I like wearing them sometimes. I’m taller, it changes my posture. In some circumstances, it’s like armor.
Amanda: Heels make my gams look a-maz-ing. Too bad I walk like a newborn giraffe in them.
Redheadedgirl: I can stalk murderously pretty well, IF the heels are blocky enough.
The late 90s where BIG blocky heels were a thing? Great for me.
Sarah: The 80s remix of “Time After Time” with synthesizers and swoopy percussion is so much nostalgia I think I can smell hairspray.
Redheadedgirl: Right?
Amanda: The music is pretty great in this.
Redheadedgirl: Like, this isn’t the most Baz Lurhmnan thing to have Baz Luhrmanned, but it’s, like, the platonic ideal.
Amanda: Dancing and love magically fixes her wardrobe and acne and eyesight. I’m real peeved that sort of thing doesn’t work in real life.
Sarah: Her hair got dark and pretty all of a sudden.
Carrie: Conditioner? An Iron? The Magic of Dance?
Sarah: The magic of a red Coca-Cola product placement sign.
Redheadedgirl: Conditioner and dance magic.
Sarah: Glitter and socks.
Elyse: I’m totally sick of the ugly duckling theme where she has to lose her glasses to be hot. I want a romance where a hero is like “Can you lose the contacts and wear glasses?”
Carrie: The thing is, when men wear glasses, it’s sexy as hell.
And love DOES NOT CURE EYESIGHT IN THE LITERAL SENSE. The eyesight thing is the only part that really bugs the shit out of me.
I love my husband but finding romantic bliss did not make me thinner, fix my eyes, or cure my scoliosis.
Amanda: Barry Fife is very Trump-esque, btw.
Elyse: And total aside, I worked for years with a guy who looks EXACTLY like Barry. EXACTLY.
Maybe a hint less orange.
Sarah: Dancing at sunset behind the tighty drying on the line whities – so much romance.
Carrie: It makes me woozy with feels.
Amanda: I love the ballroom dresses. LOVE ‘EM.
Redheadedgirl: If you drank for every ruffle, you’d be dead by this point.
Amanda: What the hell is a buff puff…
Liz puts blush all the way up to her hairline.
Sarah: Can I gripe about something minor? Ok. That wasn’t “Your dad will be home soon,” in Spanish. That was, “Your dad will be home early tonight.” Inaccurate translations make me twitch.
Redheadedgirl: Which makes more sense, tbh.
Carrie: Fran, I’m telling you – use him for hot sex, great dance, and a self esteem boost, and then dump him. Take his eyeliner when you go.
He’s not your long game, honey.
Amanda: PREACH, CARRIE!
Elyse: First thought, why do the women have Something About Mary bangs? But, like, bejeweled.
Amanda: Also…bejeweled hair.
Carrie: I love bejeweled hair!
Amanda: This movie loves harsh lighting and hasher makeup.
Elyse: Also a LOT of peroxide and hair spray was used in the making of this film.
Carrie: It’s a love letter to ballroom that also exposes all the sweat and grit and pettiness involved in it – and it’s all about a competition which if you think about it is pretty small potatoes.
Amanda: I like how Paul doesn’t have a car. He just runs to Fran’s house.
Paul thinks he’s such hot shit and then tries to do the paso doble and gets laughed at.
Carrie: Fran’s grandma is my favorite character, possibly ever. “He can shake his tailfeather but he doesn’t know shit about rhythm!” Show him how it’s done, Grandma!
Sarah: Harsh lighting, ruffle overabundance, and too much makeup and glitter vs. simple clothing and basic dancing.
Carrie: Yes.
Sarah: Everyone is so orange, too.
Carrie: Also the contrast between families. Scott’s ballroom family wants what’s best for them, not what’s best for Scott. Meanwhile, Fran’s family wants what’s best for her. The family isn’t idyllic – dad is patriarchal and protective and domineering, but at that end of the day his priority is still Fran’s happiness, not any glory she might bring to the family.
Sarah: There’s a… class thing here that’s giving me the squicks. Like scary Spanish speaking dark skinned dark haired people are scary.
Elyse: I agree with Sarah that there’s a lot of uncomfortable stereotyping with Fran’s family.
I mean they live LITERALLY on the wrong side of the tracks.
Carrie: If Charm Boy came pasa doble-ing around Linden I’d be pretty protective too.
But the Spanish family is the family of awesomeness and supportiveness while the orange family sucks.
And both families care about tradition but Spanish family is willing to bend more because they place Fran above tradition.
I think they present you with assumptions about the Spanish family and then subvert them.
Redheadedgirl: I hope that some Australian commentators can give some background on the class differences and Spanish-speaking communities in Australia.
Sarah: I think you’re right – I get twitchy and growly when “speaking Spanish” is equated with “low class.”
Carrie: It’s interesting that this is our second movie in a row that includes an immigrant story.
Redheadedgirl: I know we’re viewing this through a particular lens; I’m interested in how it is in an Australian context.
Carrie: Me too!
Sarah: In a movie from 1992.
Redheadedgirl: Right.
Sarah: Also the actor playing grandma doesn’t look old enough.
Carrie: Yeah, I assumed at first she was the mom.
Sarah: The contrast between the Spanish men dancing vs. the dance competition men standing around in suits and weird eyebrows is lovely.
Sarah: OMG. In the flashback, his dad LOOKS LIKE PEE WEE HERMAN.
Carrie: His face is TERRIFYING.
Elyse: Doug looks like Herman Munster in the flashback scene. Or Pee Wee Herman.
Sarah: What is happening.
Amanda: I KNOW, SARAH! That was the part where I got so confused.
Redheadedgirl: This is the Baz-iest part.
Amanda: “We lived our lives in fear.” But like…it’s just dancing?
Redheadedgirl: IT’S A METAPHOR.
Carrie: But to them, it’s their whole life – it’s an obsession and a business all in one. One of the things I think are so fascinating about this movie is the level of hysteria in people who are, basically, regular people – it’s not about professional high stakes dancing – and yet to these people there are no higher possible stakes.
Redheadedgirl: No, we’ve seen time and time and time again that the lower the stakes are, the more vicious and grasping the personal politics become.
Elyse: This feels very much like a musical or play to me. A lot of action happening in a single space with characters moving in and out. Plus the dancing as “expressing all my inner feelings.”
Carrie: In the Hepburn/Tracy movie, you know they are meant to be together because they get each other’s jokes and in dance you know they are meant to be together because they get each other’s movements.
Amanda: Fran’s dress it the best dress.
Carrie: YES. Gorgeous in it’s simplicity. She is STUNNING.
Sarah: Close up. EYE LINER. INTENSE EYELINER IS INTENSE ON SCOTT. Fran is dancing with someone else so it demands EXTRA EYE LINER INTENSITY.
Amanda: And it’s such a vibrant red. Like no one else has that color.
Carrie: It has enough flounces that it’s a plausible costume and yet has the simplicity that says, “We are changing the game now”
Sarah: Ooooh – Ya Ya (grandma): How beautiful she is.
Carrie: When she puts her hands up in the air and lowers them I get all woozy again.
Amanda: AND THEN THE CLAPPING.
Carrie: YES THE CLAPPING BE STILL MY HEART
Amanda: Y’all, I have to admit something. I cannot resist a clapping part in any song. One thing that bothers me though is that the dad/grandma are doing a different clapping pattern than everyone else.
Redheadedgirl: I love how Kylie and her partner are the biggest supports of Team Fran (and Paul I guess).
Sarah: Shit goes bad when your partner wears fringe not ruffles. Tassels never get the job done.
Redheadedgirl: Tell that to some burlesque dancers of my acquaintances.
Sarah: I love how Ya Ya has that in a plastic carrier bag. As you do. And the bolero jacket, of course.
Redheadedgirl: You’re now gonna carry a bolero around in your trunk, just in case.
Carrie: I love how Fran is able to change her clothes and do perfect hair and make up in approx 5 seconds.
Redheadedgirl: YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A PASO DOBLE EMERGENCY.
Sarah: IT IS TRUE.
Amanda: “A paso doble emergency.” I’m dying.
Redheadedgirl: Pub trivia team name.
Sarah: That man is turning grape colored. He’s becoming a grape.
Man, the only thing better than intense eyeliner is GLITTER bolero and eyeliner. AND SLO MO GLITTER.
Amanda: I always tear up when Scott’s parents dance at the end.
Sarah: I wanted dad to kick mum in the shins. Maybe step on her foot.
Carrie: I love the theme of forgiveness even though it’s not earned which usually bugs me (I blame the music).
Amanda: Well the dad loves her and clearly just wished they could dance together without all the competition and politics.
Carrie: Also, I don’t think the story is all black and white. On first watch, it’s very simple – some people are mired in tradition and other people want to change and they are the smart brilliant ones.
But there’s nothing wrong with valuing tradition – what’s wrong is the cheating and refusal to allow anyone to do anything differently. And insisting on using others for your own glory.
Scott and his Dad aren’t squeaky clean here either. I’ve done just enough partner dancing to know that in dances where “as the man goes, the lady must follow,” dance is about trust. That what makes it so sexy. And in trying to convince their partners to do new steps, Scott and his dad violated that trust – publicly sometimes. Which is a shitty, shitty thing to do.
Redheadedgirl: There’s a line in one of the Drina books (British ballet series set in the 60s or so) where Drina has been caught making up a dance in the woods by her principal, and the Principal asks if Drina wants to be a choreographer, and Drina’s like well I want to dance, but… there have to be new ballets, don’t there?
Carrie: Listen to Liz’s voice when Scott tries to get her back and she gives in and starts dancing with him and then he pushes her into new steps and she’s all “No! Stop!”
Redheadedgirl: And the principal says, “Yes, otherwise ballet would become a hopelessly static art.”
Carrie: It’s a big deal to fuck around with your partner like that.
So I think the reconciliation dancing at the end of the movie is to remind us that all of these people have made horrible mistakes in trying to push their own agendas, and they need to find ways to honor tradition and innovation without screwing each other over.
Redheadedgirl: But you’re right – you don’t fuck with your partner, otherwise they can’t trust you.
And the crux of partner dancing is trust and connection.
Carrie: And Liz’s career and the mom’s career were on the line too; that makes the public betrayals even worse.
In that last paso doble, when people are clapping, and Scott is coming towards Fran, and she’s doing the “Come at me” hand thing – that’s so satisfying partly because it’s the first time we see perfect trust in the movie (plus of course it’s satisfying because two people get recognition at last, and the cheaters are stymied, which is ALWAYS satisfying).
Their dance isn’t just hot because it’s good, it’s hot the way sex between two people who totally love and trust each other is hot.
Scott doing his new moves with a partner who consents, who has agency.
Sarah: And the unmasking of the defender of limited order and profit ends up losing his toupee but not his hot girlfriend.
Amanda: I also don’t think she said more than a few words.
Sarah: I think she moaned.
Carrie: There’s a lot in here about honesty too – Scott’s mom’s “happy face” and how she can’t reconcile with the dad until the happy face comes off.
Elyse: Does this movie end with Scott’s mom murdering everyone while screaming “I’m wearing my happy face!”
Carrie: We’ll never tell, Elyse.
Elyse: Also when his dad sneaks up on people and takes their picture and then hides in his closet I’m getting a serious serial killer vibe
Carrie: Deadly Ballroom: Elyse’s Cut
I forgot to add that the dance to “Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps” is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
Elyse: I just googled the actor who plays Scott. He was in Exit to Eden. Now I have remembered that Exit to Eden is a thing that happened.
Redheadedgirl: Sorry, dude.
Elyse: Whhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyy?
Now I remember the awkward BDSM still shots of Rosie O’Donnell and Dan Aykroyd.
Amanda: And here’s Paul Mercurio (Scott) from his dancing days:
Elyse: This movie is delightful and goofy and over the top. I give it four out of five sparkly bolero jackets
Sarah: I am still unsure of the portrayal of Fran’s family. And glasses should be part of a makeover not a thing to remove. But I liked it. I’d give it a B.
Amanda: I agree with you on all counts. B for me as well!
Sarah: Also, inaccurate subtitles make me twitch.
Carrie: It improves on rewatching, and I dunno, I love Fran’s family and on rewatch I feel like they subvert a lot of the tropes they are introduced with. A-.
Sarah: I love that they’re supportive and kind, but they’re also dissolved into a trope of helping the privileged white dude (albeit one with a very cute butt) succeed and win.
They aren’t acknowledged for their talent or art in any way.
Carrie: Acknowledged by the ballroom community?
Sarah: Acknowledged by anyone.
Fran dances in the dress they brought, his skills are better because they took all that time to teach him, they clap and dance and there’s no acknowledgement from anyone, not even the couple, that they had a part in making them the success they were. It bugged me a lot.
Carrie: It may be that I’ve seen the movie so many times that I’ve lost track of it. To me, it’s Fran’s story, but yeah. it’s presented more as Scott’s – I just find Fran more interesting. And to me, Fran’s family are the heroes of the story and Fran and Scott seem to acknowledge for sure that they needed them. and it seems to me that it’s obvious to the audience – and that they do it more to help Fran than to help Scott.They want what she wants. But there isn’t a big thing at the end dance where they say, “Also thanks to Fran’s family” they just all dance.
Amanda: Well Liz dances with Fran’s dad and Fran’s grandmother dances with Les (I think that was his name), so maybe that’s symbolic of the communities coming together. THROUGH DANCE.
Carrie: That’s what I thought.
Sarah: I’m not seeing all of that the same way. Fran becomes more beautiful in increments because of Scott. Her family makes him a better dancer so he can win. She’s ultimately an accessory. In a really really nice dress. One that represents her culture and her style better, and is handmade by the family that loves her as she is (contrasted to Scott’s family who doesn’t).
Fran is more compelling and it’s more interesting for me to pay attention to her story, but as shown, the movie is very much about Scott, and the role her family and Fran herself play in his success makes me feel a little bummed out because it’s a familiar and tired trope.
Carrie: I don’t think her family gives a shit about whether he wins for the sake of himself. If he had just knocked on their door and been all “I’m this guy help me when” why would they? I think they care about Fran. And I think we are supposed to think that Fran becomes more conventionally beautiful as she becomes more confident (I do dislike the makeover thing, as I’ve ranted about before).
If I were going to go with a B, it would be because I don’t believe Scott has grown up as much as the movie suggests. I don’t think he’s Fran’s endgame. I think they are going to have incredible sex and win a bunch of competitions and then go their separate ways.
Am curious what RHG and Elyse think?
I’m remembering the first time I saw it and was all, “What was THAT?” and at that time I would have given it a B+. I felt like someone had slipped some shrooms into my lunch.
Elyse: I feel like I’d have to watch it again because soooo much of my initial viewing was “WTF is this” and “so much glitter” and “peroxide orange why” but I’m inclined to go somewhere on the B route. I agree this was Scott and Doug’s story and Fran felt almost like the romantic subplot in a movie that was really about a boy being who he is
It felt like a coming out story to me that had some “romantic comedy” veils thrown over it
Carrie: I think I’d be cool with a B level grade but I’d go on record as saying that this is a movie which improves on repeated viewing and in my opinion ultimately earns an A-.
But in a love it or hate it way – it’s not gonna work for everyone, and I think that Scott was a jerkass at the beginning and is still basically kinda a jerkass at the end. One hot paso doble does not a hero make. He leveled up, but not as far as he would need to in order to be Fran’s HEA.
Redheadedgirl: This was my first exposure to Baz Luhrmann, and the idea that movie could be batshit was BRAND NEW to me. I love the surrealism, I love the dancing, and the colors and use of music and the heightened reality of it all.
But is it success, though? Sure there’s a big happy dance party at the end, but in terms of success, what have they got?
Sarah: It is a limited win, but then, small stakes mean big drama.
What did you think? Did you watch or re-watch Strictly Ballroom? How much glitter do you think was used in making this movie? Hairspray? Tell us what you thought!
I loved this movie so much. Re-watched it recently after not watching for years, and I was like “yep, still insane but still happy-sigh inducing”.
I didn’t feel like it was Scott’s movie at all, maybe because I’ve always seen myself as a pre-makeover Fran, so perhaps I just really zoomed in on her storyline. Carrie’s point about Liz’s voice in that scene, is so spot on – it really added context as to why that was such a big deal. This is kind of a rambly comment, but basically I *adore* this movie, will rewatch many times.
The dance to Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps was the best ;o)
I loved this movie so much! I think I saw it two or three times in the cinema (and I never go to the cinema), and I have it on DVD. Though it was funny watching it a few years ago – teenage me had such a crush on Scott, and wanted to dance with him forever; adult me thought that Scott danced very nicely, but just about swooned when Fran’s father started dancing. So unbelievably hot. I guess one ages out of certain crushes….
I can’t speak to the Spanish thing, but my dad and his family emigrated from Italy in the 1950s, and Fran’s family reminded me very strongly of my Italian family. I didn’t even notice the class thing. But, on reflection, the pattern of immigration, at least for the generation I know, is that people did come out after the war and work in the mines and factories and fish and chip shops and bakeries in country towns – blue collar jobs, very working class – and their children (especially their sons) were the ones who tended to move into the middle class. Partly a language thing, partly to do with job availability. So for me, the class thing looked normal. The film is trying to be set around the late 70 to early 80s, I think, and that’s certainly what quite a bit of the post-war generation of Italian migrants looked like in that era.
And I’d add that Scott’s family may be better off than Fran’s, but they coded pretty strongly lower-middle class to me. Not much of a class difference there, just different cultural norms about how people should be spending their spare time.
Whether Fran’s family are being the magical enablers of Scott or not is another matter. To me, it looked like they were all about Fran, and surprisingly accepting of Scott, but this was really not about him.
Anyway, I might be projecting too much onto this, but that’s my genuine second-generation-Australian opinion for you.
Catherine
My Mum loves this movie so I took her to see Strictly Ballroom the Musical last year. The musical had few extra songs: one about pineapples (read boob puns) and another done by Barry Fife which I swear was the ‘Be Prepared’ song that Scar sings in ‘The Lion King’ translated to the Federation.
I HAD SO MUCH FUN. I honestly went for the mum-points and ended up totally singing Time after Time for weeks after and of course buying and re-watching the movie.
My Mum and Dad met going to old-time dances in the mid 70’s in small towns in Queensland. I swear the Dad in this could be my Dad, complete with record player. My Dad had his own dance style – I think one of his friends compared it to I’m a little tea pot – but we never noticed until we were too old and too cool (teenagers) for how embarrassing our parents were!!
Mum would wear these awesome dresses she made herself – not quite federation level outfits but 70’s ballgowns and we played dress ups with them for years.
Like everyone I identified with Fran the first time I saw this movie but I think I fell in love with Scott’s dad a little too – by then I secretly kind of loved how much of a dag my Dad was. So the big happy ending gets to me every time.
I agree with Carrie, for me this is definitely an A- movie. Scott can be a pill for sure but I think everyone forgets the pressure he was under. He was the famous one and the one that all these other people were “relying on” – At least that’s what everyone was telling him over and over. I don’t think anyone thought he and Fran could win, the whole point was to have the courage to dance their own authentic steps. Scott already saw how he was treated before when he tried going off script so I don’t think “winning” was really on anyone’s mind. Scott knee if he did it he was torpedoing himself, his Mom and his “coach” in the process. Fran was the inspiration and the catalyst for Scott moving from disco moves to an authentic paso doble and Scott was a way for Fran to catapult up the ranks and be noticed.
I absolutely loved this movie when it came out because I used to watch the ballroom dance competitions with my Mom on PBS (Juliet Prowse used to host them). Like many spectators I couldn’t understand why the couples I thought were the best (least cheesy) weren’t the winners. There were certain couples with the most stylized, over the top, non-authentic looking moves that always won. In particular Corky and Shirley Ballard – the parents of Dancing With The Stars’ Mark Ballard. They won for years and everyone would go crazy when they did their (IMHO) super over the top “jive” -their signature dance. Believe me when I say this movie didn’t have to exaggerate too much about the crazy moves and costumes of the dance world at that time.
Also for fans of Gia Carides I highly recommend the movie “Paperback Romance” with her (now former) husband Anthony LaPaglia where she plays a romance novelist.
A quick note about glasses; in this context losing them is about more than just a makeover. My understanding is that more advanced dancers (men as well as women) don’t wear glasses because of the risk of them flying off. A series of turns with a sharp ballet spot (focused on a far corner of the room) will send them across the room. A flamenco spot (focused on the ground) will put them at the dancer’s feet. Either way, they’re more than an aesthetic issue.
Not relevant for this film, but as a tango dancer I can say that most social dancers of Argentine (NOT ballroom) tango remove glasses because in close embrace your forehead touched your partner’s, and having the edge of someone else’s glasses digging into your temple is quite uncomfortable.
So I took Fran losing them as a sign of her increasing ability as a dancer, and comfort with turns and lifts where they’d be a liability.
I think what makes this so good is the Australian tint in the style. There is a style to it that is almost undescribable. It has to do with camera angles. You see it in Muriel’s Wedding, in the Dressmaker, in Priscilla and I saw it last year in my 2015 favorite movie….”The Little Death” (seriously, you think you know what this movie is about and you have no iidea and has hands down the best and funniest sex scene I’ve ever seen.) It makes it fresh. I don’t think this movie could be made in the States and still pull off that thing. It’s just so good.
I just started this movie, so I’ll probably be back to comment when it is over, but I have to say that they weren’t subtle about anything. The hair, the makeup, the disapproval, and the huge Coca Cola Sign. Can you say “sponsor”?
This movie. THIS MOVIE. Story time. In the summer of 1993 I was working backstage on an outdoor drama in a tiny town in the mountains of North Carolina. We had one day off a week (Mondays) and one of the few things to do was go to the one movie theater in town for the 99-cent movie on its one screen. One Monday we went down and the movie had changed to Strictly Ballroom, a movie none of us had heard of, but we went anyway, with the attitude of “Eh, if it sucks we’re out a dollar. Who cares.”
Seeing this movie with a theater full of theatre people – dancers, singers, actors, backstage people – was MAGIC. We all laughed, cried, were enthralled, asked each other “what are we WATCHING?”, and spent the rest of the summer telling each other to put on our “happy faces”. We saw that movie every Monday until it left the theater. Every time I rewatch it I remember the night I walked into a movie theater expecting nothing and getting to see a Baz Luhrmann film for the first time.
Also, this is a Buf Puf. An exfoliating sponge, a staple of my skincare routine as a 1990s college kid. (I really hope that HTML works, I’m so rusty.)
This is definitely one of the oddest movies I have ever seen and not in a good Rocky Horror way. I don’t think I’ll watch this ever again. Scott was a huge asshat to Fran and she totally deserved better than him. His mother was a harpy and his father a doormat. They were both living in the past.
I should have known I wouldn’t care for this movie because I can’t stand Baz Luhrman. He ruined Rome and Juliet for me and I still can’t hear When Doves Cry without thinking of that god awful movie. I was just talking to my dad about this when debating how good of an artist Prince was–I’m sorry he died, but honestly I was never a fan.
Also, does Liz remind anyone else of a younger Gwen Steffani? I thought the resemblance was striking.
Am Australian. Adore this movie. Crazy, funny, sad, happy. And the dance at the end. Swoon.
the this movie was made Baz was such a nobody that they had to beg Coca Cola to let them use the sign. From imbd:
The film makers had to beg Coca-Cola to allow them to have the sign on top of the studio. The company ended paying a bit for the cost of the sign but not the whole price.
I’m in Perth and know more about immigration to this state, but I’ve a (vague) feeling the Spanish-speaking communities are mainly in Sydney and Melbourne and are from countries like Chile. Does this make a difference? I’m completely ignorant. I also couldn’t say if they’re perceived to be lower class because of the language they speak. In West Oz, this sort of thing has more to do with where you live.
Catherine said: “Not much of a class difference there, just different cultural norms about how people should be spending their spare time.”
This has always been the way I’ve read this movie too.
When it comes to his Australian-based movies in particular, Baz L’s MO has been to play up the stereotypes of various communities. However, there has always been a level of authenticity to this portrayal. This is also the case in Strictly Ballroom where he is looking at the cultural differences between migrant families and Australian-British families in post-World War Two Australia.
I’ve always seen it too as more of a story about the struggle we kids of the baby boomers had – and some still have – to forge our own paths and not follow the carefully constructed roads our parents tended to make for us. It’s a ‘we want you to have (and worked our arses off to give you) a better life so you must do it like this (and stop wasting your time on this other bullfuckingshit)’ thing. ( ) = my father’s voice. Oh, the memories.
And to all the other costume whores here at SBTB… It’s Baz L’s incredibly talented wife, Catherine Martin, who’s designed most of the costumes and sets, etc for his movies. Her work is full of fabulousness.
When it comes to an Australian perspective on Fran’s family, I agree with much of what Kris said above: they’re not seen as second or lower class at all. They’re simply part of a different community from Scott’s family. One the hand, we have Scott trying to understand a Spanish dance from a ballroom point of view; on the other is Fran, trying to understand ballroom dancing from a Spanish point of view. It’s a mushing of cultures.
Another Australian chiming in on the class thing. Scott’s family are definitely not considered higher class in comparison to Fran’s. In fact, the Scott’s whole family (and most of the dance studio people) would be considered to be “bogan”. The other context you need to understand is that train tracks run everywhere in Sydney. Particularly if you live in the inner west where it seems like this is set. Having lived in both the US and Australia I have to admit I never understood the phrase “wrong side of the tracks” until I came to the US. I visited Davis and Sacramento in Cali and was like “yep, now I totally know where that phrase came from”.
I love this movie too and like others, didn’t think there was much of a class distinction between Scott and Fran’s families: I think it was more of a cultural difference.
Given the beefcake shots, to protect your illusions, I urge you *not*, I repeat, *not* to research what the actor playing Scott (Paul Mercurio) looks like now – he’s hosting food shows and he definitely looks it!
As for actor connections, Barry Otto, who plays Scott’s dad, is in real life Miranda Otto’s dad.
Also a fun fact: Fran’s father is played by Antonio Vargas, who is in real life a flamenco dancer and choreographer, not primarily an actor. For me this helped give those scenes an automatically respectful tone, since flamenco is quite different from the stage (or ballroom) version and if you know it, it’s pretty obvious when an actor is faking and when someone is doing the real thing.
As a side note to some of the issues raised above, I found Tara Morice’s Spanish accent unconvincing (though it could be someone who grew up speaking Spanglish with an Australian overlay), but given her family’s interest in flamenco, I assume they have to be from southern Spain, since outside of Andalucia flamenco really isn’t much of a deal. (Don’t know if this holds true for Chile, but I’d imagine so. Certainly through the rest of Latin America there are a wide variety of wonderful dances, none of which are flamenco, which everyone understands as Spanish. Perhaps Fran’s family came from Chile but are of Spanish descent, and are thus immigrants twice over?)
Agree with what others have said about class, but also add that I always saw Scott’s family as Ballroom Bogans.
One thing I always loved was Scott’s realisation that what he’d learned, the Australian/ballroom version of a Spanish dance, was nowhere near as good as the authentic Spanish version and then he chooses to embrace it and learn from another culture.
He learns that other cultures have value and can do things better than his culture. And when he does that, he discovers himself, brings what he’s learned to others who learn to love and embrace it and makes the (ballroom dancing) world a better, fairer place.
To me it’s saying that cultural assimilation is not a one way street and that if we put aside our prejudices and learn from immigrants who come to our country, we will be rewarded.
And sometimes that reward is a sparkly bolero jacket, which is something we can all aspire to.
Also noting my favourite bit is when Liz plugs the power in and looks so happy. It makes me cry every time.
Commenting again to say that I think Elanor is spot on with what the movie is trying to say.
(Also, I love how I was carefully trying to be polite and not call anyone a bogan, but everyone else has said it so yeah, that’s what I meant. I should have just owned it…)
I meant to say, too, that the montage in front of the Coke sign is just so beautifully romantic. Somehow, the ugly hills hoist and concrete just make that scene more gorgeous and real.
I was living in Minneapolis when this movie came out. Saw it with friends at the Uptown (love that place, miss it). Came out like so many other people simultaneously laughing and asking, “WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME?!”
Love this movie and definitely watched Exit to Eden in high school bc Paul Mercurio. My sister and I still quote this movie to each other all the time.
@Redheadedgirl: Block (stacked) heals are back. It’s going to be your year!
Have seen this movie so many times and always love it. My thoughts on the matinee chat:
Nobody in the movie actually has any money, the way we Americans see it. The studio dancers are all doing blue-collar jobs and pouring every penny into their dancing. Mrs. Hastings does her kid’s costumes herself and sells makeup on the side. The Spanish characters have their little bodega, where Fran clearly works. Scott is the only character who doesn’t have an outside job – his job is to win competitions so that his mother and Les can get students. To me, the Hastings parents’ failure as pro dancers, and their misrepresentation of past events, underscored Scott’s desperation about the competition.
A regional championship, even in the U.S., is for amateur dancers a huge deal; and everyone knows that nobody outside the dance world will care about it At. All. The local news will not show up, much less ESPN, and the spectators will all be friends and family of the competitors.
I did not ever see the movie as a Cinderella story, nor as a typical sports movie though it has the obligatory training montage and redemption arc. As regards Scott and Fran, it was ultimately about how the love OF a good woman will never save a man, but love FOR a good woman might. And also that chucking it all to do what really moves you is sometimes worthwhile. (The competition would have been voided. Everyone getting onto the floor to dance was the best possible outcome for rules violations of this magnitude.)
The movie is based on a stage play.
I’ve loved this movie for years and watched it many times. This whole discussion, especially dancers and Australians chiming in to give a perspective that American viewers are missing, is really interesting and now I need to watch it again this weekend!
I believe a buff puff is made of coarse cloth. You rub it over your face to exfoliate it. So Fran is using it to clear up her complexion.
First saw this movie in 1993 when I was in the hospital. It played on a constant loop on the hospital’s on demand station. All these years later, I still love it!