Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? (1966) - film review

Everyone is fascinated by American supermodel Polly Maggoo.  Costume designer Isidore Ducasse is inspired by her.  Prince Igor worships her image and resolves to possess her one day.  A television company is in the process of making a documentary that will once and for all answer the question: who is Polly Maggoo?

One of the weirdest films to have been made in the 1960s, Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? looks like something New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard may have made whilst under the influence of mind altering drugs – a chaotic montage of images that has barely the merest semblance of a storyline.  The film was in fact made by the documentary filmmaker William Klein and is an attempt at absurdist cinema, a work that has no structure or meaning.  Although the film’s innovative style is at first interesting, once the novelty value has worn off it quickly becomes tedious.  What Klein does show is that a full-length film without structure has very limited appeal, although wildly experimental films of this kind are always worth watching out for.

© James Travers 2008

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