KT 101.5: Showgirls 30th Anniversary (Paul Verhoeven, 1995)
KT newcomer Kate on Paul Verhoeven's opus
Editor’s Note:
With two important films screening this week, we were forced to publish a double dispatch of quality film journalism. In one email, you can dive into the world of Miguel Gomes, in the other, you can rediscover the genius that is Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls.
Showgirls
Paul Verhoeven, 1995
DCP Courtesy: Umbrella Ent.
Classification: R 18+
Screening at the Astor Theatre at 7pm tonight. Tickets here.
Words by Kate Binning
Showgirls—box office bomb, video store staple, camp classic, career-killer and increasingly, fiercely defended art film. 30 years after its release, the Astor theatre gears up to screen the 90’s most baffling film on 35mm.
Showgirls follows Nomi, played by Elizabeth Berkley, a mysterious young woman we meet hitchhiking her way into Vegas, where she is promptly robbed, taken in by impossibly lovely seamstress Molly (Gina Ravera) and soon making ends meet as a dancer at Cheetahs strip club. After encountering the charming but diabolical Cristal Connors (Gina Gershon), the headlining dancer at the prestigious Goddess revue, and her boyfriend Zack Carey (Kyle McLachlan) Nomi sets her sights on taking her place. In a lot of ways it’s a familiar story, but Showgirls is to All About Eve as a Brothers Grimm fairytale is to its Disney counterpart - the beats are there, but it’s darker, more violent and much more morally murky.
It’s also deeply strange - the dialogue is full of truly jarring non-sequiturs, and Berkley plays Nomi with a wild intensity, delivering her lines and her dance moves with a startling ferociousness. Visually it's a delight - the neon lights and trompe l'oeil interiors of Vegas are gorgeously captured by Verhoeven’s fellow Dutchman Jost Vacano. The production design of the Goddess show, especially Nomi’s bedazzled final boss look, have been mood-boarded to death, and rightly so. The camera moves constantly, something like 70% of the film is steadicam shots, with Verhoeven conscientiously blocking the actor's movements to motivate the camera - a technique inspired by Hitchcock. The blocking, vibrant visuals and heightened dialogue/delivery give the action an air of melodrama, of staginess, sometimes it feels like we’re approaching traditional musical territory, (writer Joe Eszterhas did also pen Flashdance) but this impression is always punctured with rather earthy, abrupt reality checks like Nomi being on her period or the much-memed scene in which Cristal and Nomi both allude to poverty in their past so severe they had to eat dog food.
This tension keeps the film hovering in this weird liminal space - never quite a musical or a dance movie, never quite a gritty behind-the-scenes drama, before it abruptly abandons any flirtations with comedy and launches into a deeply disturbing final act. The violence - when it does come - is truly shocking, perhaps all the more so because it is perpetrated against the film's only moral character. It catches an already disorientated audience offguard - most people have some awareness that sexual violence, corruption, the very depths of human depravity are never far from the excesses of a place like Vegas, but they aren’t usually graphically reminded of those facts halfway through the show.
Judging by the vociferous backlash against the film, and against Berkley, when it first opened, audiences felt like they’d been tricked, or even shamed for wanting to see an all-singing, all-dancing skin flick starring an actress only known for playing a high schooler. Indeed, the sheer amount of nudity quickly makes the sight of bare breasts mundane(!) and the sex scenes are so bizarre as to be decidedly un-erotic. But why would Verhoeven, with his famously ‘European’ attitude to sex and nudity, be interested in punishing moviegoers wanting to see some flesh? Showgirls isn’t Funny Games for T and A. People reacted badly not only because they felt they’d been misled, but that they’d seen something poorly made - a movie that not only failed to be titillating, but failed to be tasteful, failed to be realistic, a movie that didn't do what it was supposed to do. On a more subconscious level, audiences wanted and expected to see an increasingly ruthless starlet ‘learn her lesson’ or be punished accordingly - and having your subconscious desires frustrated is enough to make anyone stroppy.
Fast forwarding through Showgirls half life on the midnight movie circuit and its popularity on VHS (anyone old enough to remember going to a video store will surely remember that iconic uni-legged cover), the first murmuring of critical reevaluation began in the early 2000s - prompting a Film Quarterly round table in 2003, which emboldened other critics to publicly embrace the film, although often with reservations, and often with reservations specifically about Berkley's performance. Showgirls pops up again and again throughout the 2000s and 2010s and by 2019 we get a feature length documentary called You Don’t Nomi which frames the film as a camp classic and a “masterpiece of trash”. Despite being her self-styled ‘defenders’ the documentary makers weirdly throw Verhoeven under the bus as having cynically manipulated poor, innocent Berkeley into giving an unintentionally camp, or bad, performance. They love her for it, but they're also sure she didn’t mean to do it. Tellingly, they reveal that at most ”The Room”-style fan screenings of Showgirls that the offending scene of sexual violence is simply skipped as something that has no place in the narrative. While there’s value in celebrating what the film has come to mean in queer culture, You Don’t Nomi once again misses the point by seeing Berkley’s performance as bad and the film as somehow failed.
Late last year Berkley spoke at a 35mm screening of the film at the Academy Museum, gracious, grateful for the renewed interest in the film and sticking to the same line she’s always maintained; that “every day of shooting was heaven”. Berkley has often talked about how she got her hands on the script for Showgirls and pursued the role relentlessly, against the wishes of her agent, telling Verhoeven she “was Nomi”. Even at the height of the media pile-on she never disowned the film. While hurt and confused she still believed in Showgirls as at its core a story about following your dreams, the price you pay to do so and the possibility of redemption. If we do both Berkeley and Verhoeven the basic courtesy of assuming the movie came out pretty much how they meant it to - what do we then make of it?
Verhoeven deliberately chooses to reject the rules of good taste and the Hollywood-approved ‘a star is born’ narrative because his target is the hypocrisy of those conventions themselves. The purpose of the film’s unsettling in-betweenness is to highlight the gap between reality and a pop cultural mythology that continues to sell the idea of a victimless rise to the top, or of an entertainment industry (or any industry) where exploitation is the exception rather than the rule. Without absolving Nomi entirely, he even winkingly undoes the idea of women as their own worst enemies a la All About Eve (see Cristal beaming from her hospital bed). Verhoeven has said he sees himself “...as a director who explores the difference between reality and the way in which we usually see reality portrayed. I feel that there is a huge discrepancy between what life really is and what we are supposed to see in the movies.” In the 90s Las Vegas was beginning its attempt to rebrand itself as a more wholesome, family friendly destination - almost making the discrepancy Verhoeven is speaking of manifest on a city-sized scale. A city more than any other that is built on an image of itself as glamorous, exciting and above all sexy - but where, increasingly, the subject or actual reality of sex was taboo. Rather than launch into a serious expose of gambling, sex work and corruption, Verhoeven chose to twist the image itself - dialling the colour, glamour and drama up to the point of hyperbole while introducing the cost, both physical and spiritual, borne of maintaining the fantasy.
On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, perhaps audiences are ready to embrace Showgirls for what it really is - a spiky artefact of the crawlspace between America’s image of itself and its reality. With Showgirls, Verhoeven attempted to add a new myth to the pantheon, one that teaches that in an industry/country/world so supremely corrupt the price for success will always be too high, a fable about spiritual damage. Berkley’s totally unique, fearless performance is essential to this attempt - audiences sure that the movie was playing some kind of a trick or being intentionally camp saw her as not being in on the joke - but Berkeley knew there was no joke to get and played Nomi without irony or reservations.
Personally, I can’t help seeing Nomi as a ghost hitchhiker. One who forces her way into the mortal realm through sheer spite, doomed to repeat her sisyphean climb to the top in a new city over and over again. The spiritual daughter of a corrupt American fantasy.
Listings | Thursday 6 Feb - Wednesday 12 Feb
Notable Screenings
Hard Truths (with virtual Q&A)
Mike Leigh, 2024
Screening Wednesday 19 at NOVA
Showgirls
Paul Verhoeven, 1995
Screening Thursday 13
Widow Clicquot
Paul Verhoeven, 2023
Screening Thursday 13
Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes, 2024
Screening Daily
Europa! Europa! Film Festival
Lido and Classic Cinemas
Program here
New Films in Release
Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes, 2024
Screening Daily
Soundtrack to a Coup D ‘État
Johan Grimonprez, 2024
Screening at Nova (exclusive)
Black Box Diaries
Shiori Ito, 2024
Screening at Nova (exclusive)
Focus on Peter Weir
Gallipoli
Peter Weir, 1981
Screening Thursday 13
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Peter Weir, 1975
Screening Friday 14
Focus on Andrea Arnold
Bird
Andrea Arnold, 2024
Screening Friday 14
Focus on David Lynch
Lost Highway
David Lynch, 1997
Screening Saturday 15
The Straight Story
David Lynch, 1999
Screening Saturday 15
Mulholland Drive
David Lynch, 2001
Screening Sunday 16
Inland Empire
David Lynch, 2006
Screening Monday 17
Art + Film
The Future & Beyond: Reclaiming Tomorrow
You, Me and the Machine
Survival and Resilience
Myth and Modernity
All Screening Sunday
Artist Film Workshop: Annual Showcase
Various Artists, 2024-2025
Screening Monday 17
Matinees
Red Island
Robin Campillo, 2023
Screening Fri to Sat
No screening this week
Artist Film Workshop: Annual Showcase
Various Artists, 2024-2025
Screening at ACMI Monday 17
Showgirls
Paul Verhoeven, 1995
Screening Thursday 13
The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Live Shadow Cast by the Pevlic Thrusts
Jim Sharman, 1975
Screening Friday 14
The Brutalist
Brady Corbett, 2024
Screening Saturday, Sunday
Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back
D.A Pennebaker, 1967
Screening Saturday 15
Double Feature: Seven + Zodiac
David Fincher, 1995 + 2007
Screening Saturday 15
Seven (35mm)
David Fincher, 1995
Screening Sunday 16, (4K on Wednesday 19)
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Sunday 16
The Substance + The Neon Demon
Coralie Fargeat, 2024 / Nicolas Winding, 2016
Screening Monday 17
The Last Journey (Live Q&A)
Filip Hammar, 2024
Screening Tuesday 18
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Bernard MacMahon, 2025
Screening Wednesday 19
BBBC CINEMA (GALLERYGALLERY BRUNSWICK)
Closed until further notice
No screening this week
CHINATOWN CINEMA
Shut for the week!
Coming back in some variety soon
No screening this week
Events
Hard Truths (with virtual Q&A)
Mike Leigh, 2024
Screening Wednesday 19
Bird
Andrea Arnold, 2024
Screening Fri, Sat, Sun
Macbeth
Max Webster, 2025
Screening Thursday 13
The Last Journey (Live Q&A)
Filip Hammar, 2024
Screening Tuesday 18
Im Still Here
Walter Salles, 2024
Previewing Fri, Sat, Sun
Release
Soundtrack to a Coup D ‘État
Johan Grimonprez, 2024
Screening Daily (excl Mon, Tue)
Black Box Diaries
Shiori Ito, 2024
Screening Daily (excl Mon)
Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes, 2024
Screening Daily
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Daily
Babygirl
Halina Reijn, 2024
Screening Daily
A Complete Unknown
James Mangold, 2024
Screening Daily
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet, 2024
Screening Daily
Maria
Pablo Larraín, 2025
Screening Daily
Presence
Steven Soderbergh, 2025
Screening Daily
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Bernard MacMahon, 2025
Screening Daily
Conclave
Edward Berger, 2024
Screening Daily
September 5
Tim Fehlbaum, 2025
Screening Daily
Nosferatu
David Eggers, 2024
Screening Daily
Anora
Sean Baker, 2024
Screening Daily
We Live in Time
John Crowley, 2024
Screening Daily (Excl Friday)
Sing Sing
Greg Kwedar, 2025
Screening Daily
Emilia Perez
Jacques Audiard, 2025
Screening Daily
Better Man
Michael Gracey, 2024
Screening Daily
All We Imagine As Light
Payal Kapadia, 2024
Screening Daily
The Room Next Door
Pedro Almodóvar, 2024
Screening Mon-Wed, Thu, Fri
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Thurs, Sun-Wed
Heretic
Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, 2024
Screening Daily (Excl Sunday)
A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg, 2024
Screening Mondays
Memoir of a Snail
Adam Elliot, 2024
Screening Daily
Memory
Michel Franco, 2023
Screening Daily
There’s Still Tomorrow
Paola Cortellesi, 2024
Screening Daily
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat, 2024
Screening Daily
Kneecap
Rich Peppiatt, 2023
Screening Daily
DOGMILK DEGUSTATIONS: @ Miscellania
No screening this week
No screening this week
GAY24 (Bar Flippy’s)
Next screening on Feb 26
HITLIST (9 Gertrude St, Fitzroy)
No screening this week
LIDO / CLASSIC / CAMEO
Events
Europa! Europa! Film Festival
Lido and Classic Cinemas
Program here
General Release
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Michael Morris, 2025
Screening Daily
A Complete Unknown
James Mangold, 2024
Screening Daily
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Daily
Babygirl
Halina Reijn, 2024
Screening Daily
Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes, 2024
Screening Daily
Widow Clicquot
Paul Verhoeven, 2023
Screening Daily
Conclave
Edward Berger, 2024
Screening Daily
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet, 2024
Screening Daily
Nosferatu
David Eggers, 2024
Screening Daily
Anora
Sean Baker, 2024
Screening Daily
We Live in Time
John Crowley, 2024
Screening Daily
A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg, 2024
Screening Daily
Emilia Perez
Jacques Audiard, 2025
Screening Daily
Better Man
Michael Gracey, 2024
Screening Daily
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Bernard MacMahon, 2025
Screening Daily
OVA CLUB
No screening this week
David Lynch Retrospective
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (FREE)
Program from 7pm | Screening from 8.30pm
THE MELBOURNE CINÉMATHÈQUE (ACMI)
A Touch of Zen,
King Hu, 1971
Screening Wednesday 19
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY: SCREENING IDEAS
No screening this week
PALACE BALWYN / BRIGHTON / COMO / KINO / PENTRIDGE / MOONEE PONDS / WESTGARTH
General Release
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Michael Morris, 2025
Screening Daily
A Complete Unknown
James Mangold, 2024
Screening Daily
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Daily
Babygirl
Halina Reijn, 2024
Screening Daily
Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes, 2024
Screening Daily
Widow Clicquot
Paul Verhoeven, 2023
Screening Daily
Presence
Steven Soderbergh, 2025
Screening Daily
We Live in Time
John Crowley, 2024
Screening Daily
Conclave
Edward Berger, 2024
Screening Daily
Nosferatu
David Eggers, 2024
Screening Daily
Emilia Perez
Jacques Audiard, 2025
Screening Daily
Anora
Sean Baker, 2024
Screening Daily
A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg, 2024
Screening Daily
Better Man
Michael Gracey, 2024
Screening Daily
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Daily
The Room Next Door
Pedro Almodóvar, 2024
Screening Daily (Kino)
Paddington in Peru
Dougal Wilson, 2024
Screening Daily
All We Imagine As Light
Payal Kapadia, 2024
Screening Daily (Kino)
Next screening in March
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Daily
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Bernard MacMahon, 2025
Screening Thu, Sat, Wed
Two Homelands + Q & A
Kay Pavlou, 2024
Screening Sat, Sun
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet, 2024
Screening Wednesday 19
Wild at Heart
David Lynch, 1990
Screening on Monady 17
Party Girl (Sold Out)
Daisy von Scherler Mayer, 2024
Screening Tuesday 18
UNKNOWN PLEASURES @ Thornbury Picture House
No screening this week