A blockbuster writer preceded by a thorough promotional launch, Barbie shines, is fun, full of verve and ingenuity; Greta Gerwig’s film shows glimpses of the director’s wickedness, but he doesn’t scratch enough when he tries (also) to make himself a satire of customs and society.
I’m (not just) a Barbie girl
It was definitely with Oppenheimer, the most anticipated film of the summer. The hype associated primarily with the very specific nature of the plot – and its apparent “untranslatability” on screen – and secondly with the personalities involved: the protagonists Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, no doubt, but also the director with aesthetics and themes recognizable (and by no means banal) like Greta Gerwig. And probably for Gerwig it is Barbie it truly represents an entry into blockbuster cinema, both in terms of the production aspects of the project and the chosen aesthetic and storytelling. Additionally, anticipation and curiosity for this new work by the Gerwig/Baumbach couple (the director’s husband co-wrote the script) was artfully spurred on by the production, a meticulous marketing campaign that flooded the net with trailers. , clip and poster of the character, he left out only a few (and somewhat misleading) details about the film’s plot. To the point that the synopses that have been circulating on the net so far have turned out to be fundamentally wrong. But let’s take it one step at a time and figure out what Greta Gerwig’s first foray into arthouse blockbusters really is.
From Barbie Country to the Real World
As expected, the plot is centered on the city of Barbieland, inhabited by every possible and imaginable Barbie (from a lawyer to a doctor to a company leader) and their colleagues Ken, who are in a subordinate position. The Kens, also extremely diverse in body type and ethnicity, live only in the Barbie model to which they are naturally attached. Among the many Barbies present in this (literally) pink universe, there is a stereotypical Barbie: the first, the one that embodies the ideal of feminine perfection and the original aesthetic model of the doll. However, suddenly something in the eternal plastic joy of Barbieland – the eternal repetition of an always beautiful day – seems to crack: during the usual evening feast with companions, the stereotypical Barbie begins to have thoughts of death. An anomaly that becomes more and more pronounced in the following days, beginning to bring with it previously unthinkable physical manifestations (eg, the appearance of cellulite). The answer is soon given: the stereotype Barbie has taken possession of her mistress’s thoughts, opening a portal between the real world and the world of dolls. A portal that only she can close as she crosses the chasm between two worlds.
plastic pop
It’s dazzling and delicious, start Barbiewith an explicit quote from 2001: Space Odyssey (complete with the voice of the narrator, originally by Helen Mirren) to reveal the imprint of the film’s aesthetic as well as its narrative register: Gerwig is a pop-quote work that wants to playfully reflect a product of popular culture. and his history. The episode of the girls destroying traditional dolls, with Margot Robbie’s Barbie standing out like the famous Kubrick monolith, gives a glimpse of an epochal transition that is the introduction of a character and a “revolution” (in the broadest sense). which he embodied. A revolution that has evolved and transformed over the decades, capturing new fashions and sensibilities but remaining essentially consistent with itself: like the world of Barbieland, the concept of the Mattel doll is always the same and monolithically consistent, the inevitable result of a period. that ‘gave birth. The period when patriarchy – referred to several times in the film as a concept taken out of context, almost an ingredient to be used to one’s taste – was announced and revealed, and when the introduction of an overt symbol of female beauty (inevitably stereotyped) was to actually reinforce conception of a female object. A woman who can be trusted with a plastic kingdom to (not) make up for the oppression suffered in the real world.
Next level
It is in this social allegory, created by means of a pop tale, colorful and suitable for the whole family, that the main Barbie. Gerwig’s film has a playful and light tone (perhaps even a little too much) with constant visual inventions in which the dominant color pink does not detract from the scenographic concern for the world, which was not easily believable, a large number of jokes and tense dialogue, as well as a programmatically “bubbly” performance that makes it particularly suitable for younger audiences. Then, however, there is a reading of the next level, the level of comparison of the plastic universe of dolls and the real one, the inversion of perspective and the awareness of deception (something in between The Truman Show AND matrix, also explicitly mentioned) to which the inhabitants of Barbieland are exposed. And this is where the film takes on parallel coherence with its two main characters; protagonists who evolve from (literally) plastic figures to fully rounded characters who Margot Robbie AND Ryan Gosling they manage to give depth with the right gradualness and by exploring all possible nuances. The two characters come into contact with the contradictions and difficult intelligibility of human society, with the complexity of feelings and the difficult management of them, including one’s own. It is at this stage, Barbie on the one hand, it takes on the tone of an insightful (albeit seemingly good-natured) social satire, on the other, a melancholy fairy tale played out on a double track of the relationship between Barbie and Ken and between the doll herself. and its old human owner.
But the opportunity was partly missed.
Just when he decides to become a social satire – thus joining the thematic heart of the works of the Herwig/Baumbach couple – Barbie however, he fails (or, more likely, does not want to) actually stab the knife, creating a spectacular and dramatic contrast between the two worlds. In particular, the film proves too good-natured when the action moves to Mattel’s headquarters, presenting the figure of the CEO (with the face Will Ferrell) is presented superficially and with little narrative. Starting in the second half of the movie, it looks like Ferrell’s character is about to become a real villain and then fade into the background in favor of a contrast – more manageable on a thematic level – in the world of Barbie. Thus, the potentially strongest element of the film – two colliding, polluting worlds – loses one of its foundations: what was supposed to be a puppeteer, after all, is not so bad, and his role is gradually reduced to a speck of little importance. Sorry, especially in the second part of the film, really acid Greta Gerwig Lady Birdbut also the one he adapted with his personal sensitivity, Small woman: Here the director conveniently puts himself at the service of the Warner/Mattel synergy, crafting his arthouse blockbuster with lots of personal touches but mostly refraining from scratching. still remains Barbie, a film that will make a large part of the public happy, an example of popular cinema that does not completely cancel – as has happened too many times recently in Hollywood – the vision and personality of its author; there remains a regret about the operation, which chose – in all probability consciously – not bold enough, but in the end it can be satisfied.
poster
Gallery
Form
Original name: Barbie
Director: Greta Gerwig
Country/year: UK, USA / 2023
Duration: 114′
Type: comedy, adventure, romance, fantasy
Throw: Helen Mirren, Margot Robbie, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, John Cena, Ritu Arya, Alexandra Shipp, Jamie Demetriou, Ryan Gosling, Rhea Pearlman, Will Ferrell, Emma McKee, Issa Rae, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Nicola Coughlan, Sharon Rooney America Ferrera, Ana Cruz Kane, Caroline Wilde, Connor Swindells, Dua Lipa, Emerald Fennell, Hari Nef, Marisa Abela, Michael Cera, Nkuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Simu Liu
Screenplay: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
Photo: Rodrigo Prieto
Assembly: Nick Howey
Music: Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt
Director: Robbie Brenner, David Heyman, Christine Krais, Tom Ackerley, Margot Robbie
Production house: Mattel, Heyday Films, Warner Bros., LuckyChap Entertainment, Mattel Films
Distribution: Warner Bros.
Release date: 20.07.2023
Trailer
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