All art bears some sort of message. An obvious one is boring and insulting to viewers. A hidden message that is too obtuse is frustrating to discern. Artists walk a fine line between the two extremes. Unfortunately, “Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?” falls into the second category.
I had the opportunity to see “Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?,” a political and social satire directed by the photographer William Klein. It’s a film which openly mocks modern fashion and the role the media plays with it, but the film never really caught my attention firmly and I gave up on it less than halfway through after attempting to watch it twice.
I’m sure there is some deep and meaningful message underneath it all, but basically my patience ran out before I could figure it out. As I mentioned up front, it was a frustrating film to watch — and I don’t usually give up on films early.
To be sure, there are some meaningful questions that come up throughout the film, or at least the portion of it that I had the patience to watch. Polly Maggoo is a supermodel played by Dorothy McGowan who is at the center of international attention. The film openly mocks a media that can’t stand not knowing her and decides to invent a narrative for her, regardless of whether she understands or agrees with that narrative.
Polly’s attitude is hard to understand. At time she appears flustered by the narrative spun for her. On other occasions, she appears to play along with the fantasy and sooner or later, it’s hard to distinguish the contrived narrative or the reality of who she really is.
The film touches on a lot of modern themes: public obsession with a perceived supermodels, a ridiculously presumptous and aggressive media, the question of identity and how the sense of self is defined, and finally whether photographs can erase or define true identity.
We also hear questions about the superfice as reality or definition of a person, whether anything exists beyond the persona we show in public, and how the media influences both. The film also mocks any lack of any independent thought in the fashion media or the lack of any concern for the models themselves.
Finally, the film addresses fashion itself and why it may or may not be important. These are all great questions. Unfortunately, the film never really attempts an answer.