Golden Eighties

The uncompromising Belgian master director Chantal Akerman made only a handful of forays into mainstream cinema during her career, and Golden Eighties, a musical, is undoubtedly one of the most successful. Set entirely in a shopping mall, the film follows both employees and customers as they struggle in their pursuit of romantic happiness. The mating dances played out in front of display windows pose a question: where does the consumerist paradise of fulfilled material desires end, and where do the human dramas, lost in a jungle of brands, begin? Who invented love–an advertising agency? And is happiness just the fleeting moment before you need more happiness, as Mad Men would later suggest?

Though Akerman saturates the story with irony and synth-heavy music, the film also radiates her deep affection for classic Technicolor musicals. The cast includes Akerman’s brilliant longtime collaborator Delphine Seyrig (the greatest Jeanne Dielman herself) and Belgian pop icon Lio.

Director: Chantal Akerman

Year: 1986

Length: 96 min

Language: French

Subtitles: English