Model (1981 film)

Model
Theatrical release poster with models Apollonia van Ravenstein, Sara Kapp, and Pat Cleveland posing in furs
Directed byFrederick Wiseman
Produced byFrederick Wiseman
CinematographyJohn Davey[1]
Edited byFrederick Wiseman
Distributed byZipporah Films
Release date
  • September 16, 1981 (1981-09-16) (U.S.)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Model[a] is a 1981 American documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman.[3] The film examines the modeling industry in New York City.[4] It was Wiseman's ninth documentary for WNET, a New York PBS station.[5]

The film follows the Zoli modeling agency, owned by Zoltan "Zoli" Rendessy.[3][6] The film shows Zoli himself, his employees, models, clients, and photographers.[4]

Synopsis

Like all of Wiseman's films, Model has no narrator.[5] The film opens with a cityscape of lower Manhattan, showing the World Trade Center.[7] The film intercuts fashion sequences (runway shows, photo shoots, a pantyhose commercial),[5] Manhattan street scenes (roller skaters, an ambulance, "pedestrians who often look livelier than the models"[8]),[3][9] and shots of mannequins in store windows.[10]

The agency screens aspiring models and connects them with clients,[6] in the process reducing them to labels and stereotypes,[11] including the young executive, the all-American girl, the sophisticate, the streetsmart, and the Avon look.[12] Zoli tells one female aspirant who is 5 ft 6.5 in (168.9 cm) tall that the height is "too short for what we do... It's a problem," but in the following scene, a woman only 0.75 in (1.9 cm) taller is told, "I think we have some possibilities here."[13]

The film's longest sequence, running nearly 30 minutes, is the making of a television commercial for Evan-Picone pantyhose.[6][14] The director instructs the male and female model to run into each other repeatedly.[15] For the same commercial, model Apollonia van Ravenstein's leg is photographed over 79 takes to create a four-second "peacock effect."[14][16] The film shows the completed 30-second commercial.[10]

The film ends with a Oscar de la Renta runway show with twirling fashion models,[3][17] followed by a closing shot of the Manhattan skyline at night.[18]

Cast

Production

The film was shot in 1979 and 1980[13] on black-and-white film.[12] Wiseman selected the Zoli agency simply because "the idea of a model agency appealed to me ... and [Zoli] agreed."[19]

Wiseman did not research the modeling industry before filming, and described the editing process as discovery: "It is all a surprise since I know very little about the subject before I begin shooting. The idea is that the film should at least in part show what I learned as a consequence of the shoot and the long period of editing."[19]

Release

The film was broadcast on PBS on September 16, 1981.[3]

Reception

The film shows modeling as "monotonous, lacking autonomy, and devoid of internal satisfaction",[12] and as "a grind of rejections and retakes."[15] Novelist William T. Vollmann had expected the film to be glamorous and was surprised by its monotony.[15] Model examines how institutional routines become repetitive, drawing parallels to military operations.[20]

Wiseman contrasts the idealized imagery of advertising, which largely defines American capitalism, with the imperfections of the real world.[21] Before filming the pantyhose commercial, the New York City streets are cleaned.[22] Wiseman films another documentary crew shooting a shower interview with a male model,[23] revealing that the model is wearing underwear.[24] The film includes a street demonstration that appears to be a feminist protest, only to be revealed as the filming of a commercial.[25]

Model demonstrates Wiseman's increasing political consciousness.[26] Its examination of the Zoli agency can be applied to the broader industry of advertising, marketing, and retail sales,[21] contrasting the constructed hyperreality of advertising imagery with the bustle of the real world.[22]

Notes

  1. ^ The title references both the film's subject and Wiseman's template for filmmaking.[2]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Benson, Thomas W.; Anderson, Carolyn (Fall 1984). "The Rhetorical Structure of Frederick Wiseman's Model". Journal of Film and Video. 36 (4). University of Illinois Press: 30–40. JSTOR 20687633.
  2. ^ Grant 2023, p. 188.
  3. ^ a b c d e Slavitt, David R. (September 23, 1981). "Culture Note". The New Republic. Vol. 185, no. 12. p. 40.
  4. ^ a b Unger, Arthur (September 14, 1981). "'Model,' Fred Wiseman's Latest Documentary: In the End, Brilliant". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Shales, Tom (September 25, 1981). "Love It, Love It, Love That Face!". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Brody, Richard (April 17, 2017). "Model". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  7. ^ Grant 2023, p. 176.
  8. ^ Bender, Abbey (February 6, 2020). "A Classic Film Reminds Us That Modeling Is Labor". Hyperallergic. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  9. ^ Armstrong 1983, pp. 5–6.
  10. ^ a b Armstrong 1983, p. 6.
  11. ^ Grant 2023, p. 181.
  12. ^ a b c Papson, Steve (August 1981). "Model". Humanity & Society. 5 (3): 278–281. doi:10.1177/016059768100500308.
  13. ^ a b c Joseph, Alex (2015). "Second Looks: Two Films about Fashion by Frederick Wiseman". Fashion Theory. 20 (1): 103–116. doi:10.1080/1362704X.2015.1078137.
  14. ^ a b Armstrong 1983, p. 7.
  15. ^ a b c Vollmann, William T. (2010). "In Memory of Us All: Some Scenes Out of Wiseman". Frederick Wiseman. New York: Museum of Modern Art. pp. 69–76. ISBN 978-0-87070-791-9.
  16. ^ a b Grant 2023, p. 211.
  17. ^ Grant 2023, p. 126.
  18. ^ Grant 2023, pp. 176–177.
  19. ^ a b Joseph, Alexander (December 2013). "Fashion Documents: Frederick Wiseman on His Sartorial Films". Vestoj. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  20. ^ Grant 2023, p. 100.
  21. ^ a b Grant 2023, p. 167.
  22. ^ a b Grant 2023, p. 177.
  23. ^ Armstrong 1983, p. 8.
  24. ^ Grant 2023, p. 191.
  25. ^ Grant 2023, p. 185.
  26. ^ Grant 2023, p. 166.

Sources

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