Shopgirl
Mirabelle Butterfield is a struggling
artist who somehow finds herself working at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly
Hills, selling formal women's gloves, which, as you may imagine, is very
lonely work. She stands, rigid, behind the counter and watches life
passing by, people with more money and power and seemingly happier.
She had moved to California from Vermont years earlier to try and discover
herself, however she is barely doing her art now and seems to have met
almost no one in her new hometown. Even her cat is rather stand-offish
towards her.
Mirabelle craves love and
needs acceptance, not necessarily of the romantic sort, although of course
she would jump at that chance. However, more than anything, she just
wants to break out of her rut and give her life meaning.
It is at this crossroads
that she meets two men. The first Jeremy (Jason Schwartzmann), is a
young, artsy-type who really has no understanding of women. They meet
in an all-night laundromat when Jeremy hits her up for change for the drier
and her phone number. Jeremy is a slob, always broke, unintentionally
rude, and considers himself an artist despite the fact that his "art" is the
designing of fonts.
Despite the disastrous first
date, she is still hopeful, or perhaps charitable. "Are you one of
those people," she asks Jeremy, "who takes a while to get to know, but once
you do, they are fabulous?" He has no idea what she's talking about --
at least not yet.
The second man is Ray Porter
(Steve Martin, who also wrote the screenplay based on his best-selling
novella.) Ray is rich, charming, cultured, sophisticated and somewhat
distant when it comes to commitment. He meets Mirabelle as a client of
Saks, buying
a pair of black gloves from her and then sending them to her as a gift with
a card invitation for dinner. Mirabelle can't decide if it is a
suave move or just a touch stalkerish, but in the end gives him a chance.
Ray is the exact opposite of
Jeremy, a wealthy older man (he has some vague computer job) who gives
Mirabelle expensive gifts -- not to buy her affections, but just because he
can. However, Ray will not allow himself to get too involved, he tries
to keep the relationship casual even at the point that he obviously desires
more.
Shopgirl
is unique as love triangles go because it does not pick
sides. The movie is way too smart and way too savvy a look at the pull
of love, life and desire to fall into the trap of making life so black and
white. In the long run it does not matter which man Mirabelle ends up
with -- or even whether or not she ends up with one of them at all.
The film is about Mirabelle's growth, how each man contributes to it and
each one tries to thwart it. Both guys are perfect for her in many ways and absolutely wrong for her in
many others. Which is, of course, the way that love goes.
(11/05)
Jay S.
Jacobs
Copyright ©2005 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: November 6, 2005.
