the pink politic

"Shopgirl" film review

Mirabelle Buttersfield (Claire Danes) moved to Los Angeles to begin her life, the omniscient narrator of “Shopgirl” reveals minutes into the film. But in our first encounter with Mirabelle, her life is at a standstill. As she stares from behind the glove counter at Saks Fifth Avenue, her sad eyes betray her loneliness.

Save her cat Sylvia, Mirabelle seems to have no friends in L.A. That is, until she meets the eccentric Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) at a laundromat and agrees to a date. We understand immediately why Mirabelle described herself as a poor judge of character. Jeremy is obnoxious -at the end of the night he demands “So can I kiss you or what?” – and disgusting – when Mirabelle agrees to sleep with him, Jeremy suggests using a plastic baggie as protection because he doesn’t have a condom. You want to shake the aggravatingly passive Mirabelle and yell, “You can do better!”

Thankfully, hope arrives in the form of Ray Porter (Steve Martin). The white-haired businessman purchases a pair of elegant black gloves from Mirabelle’s counter. That evening, the gloves are carefully wrapped in a red box outside Mirabelle’s apartment with a note reading “I would like to have dinner with you.” A few awkward dates follow, but somehow, the two end up in bed together. The next morning, Ray warns Mirabelle that he isn’t looking for a permanent relationship. Mirabelle takes it in stride at the time, but is actually in complete denial.

Martin, credited with producing and writing “Shopgirl,” which was adapted from his best-selling novella of the same name, plays a character that is a departure from his usual harmless and goofy leading man. He is a mismatch for Ray’s charm and emotional unavailability and doesn’t become his character completely.

Danes presents us with the most well-acted and relatable of the bunch. Mirabelle makes mistakes, hears what she wants to hear, and takes leaps of faith that most everyone who has loved strongly and endured the single life can understand. Although she makes several missteps along the way, you root for her from the start.

The dialogue of “Shopgirl” is at once witty and lackluster. When Ray gives Mirabelle a birthday present one day early, he corrects the error in his Palm Pilot and says “Next year it’ll be better.” Mirabelle playfully mocks his age, “Next year? Next year you’ll be dead!” But later, after Ray’s infidelity almost destroys them, he asks Mirabelle to meet him in New York to rekindle their relationship. After a long pause, all Mirabelle can muster is an emotionless, “O.K.”

Ultimately, Mirabelle has a choice between two men, neither of which is very appealing on the surface. One is her age and struggles with money and how to treat women. The other is older, richer, and infinitely smoother. Both are, at first, emotionally unavailable. But only one does enough growing up in the two-hour film to become the man Mirabelle truly deserves.

It is, at times, exasperating to watch Mirabelle negotiate her way through her love affairs. But as the tagline for the movie reads, “Relationships don’t always fit like a glove.” A true-to-life story that is as frustrating as real life can be, “Shopgirl” is worth a trip to the theater if only for its last scene. Mirabelle is finally happy, but as it is so often in life, her happiness is bittersweet.

posted by Tina @ 7:27 PM