Movie Review: Shopgirl
I love me a good May/December love story. Lost in Translation is one of my favorite films of all time and the age gap helped strengthen the dynamic in the recently reviewed flick Secretary. Shopgirl gives us another take in the story of Mirabelle Buttersfield, a down-to-Earth LA transplant from Vermont played effectively by Claire Danes. After a beautifully scored and shot introduction her story begins with a brief courtship with a broke graphic designer named Jeremy, played flawlessly by Jason Schwartzman, but soon shifts into a whirlwind romance with the wealthy businessman Ray played by Steve Martin.
The story was actually written by Martin, a true renaissance man best known for his comedy but also an accomplished musician and novelist. Martin also provides narration which is an unfortunate directing choice as it adds nothing of value and undercuts some of the more powerful moments. Still, the story is well-paced and good-natured with solid performances throughout. Martin’s acting required him to turn off a lot of his natural charm to portray Ray as a believably square, aloof middle-aged divorced guy looking for love but also not really.
Mirabelle is portrayed as a very sensible woman with old-fashioned values. When another LA girl at her store gives her advice on how to sexually manipulate men, she shoots it down. She gives Ray the chance to form a real relationship but he keeps sending mixed signals. He tells her initially that he “isn’t looking for anything serious,” and that they should, “keep their options open.” But then later he offers to let her leave clothes at his house, intervenes to support her during a mental health crisis, begs forgiveness when confessing to sleeping with another woman (why even tell her if it’s not supposed to be serious?) and eventually pays off her student loan.
My hot take? Ray is deluded. This became clear during a very fun scene where we see Ray and Mirabelle both describing their relationship to others and we see the gulf in their perceptions. Ray tells his therapist that he told Mirabelle he basically just wants to sleep with her when he’s in town. This is laughable on its face. I don’t know of many beautiful 20-something women sleeping with men in their 50’s purely out of recreation, especially not conservative ones like Mirabelle. Ray knows deep down he has to offer some degree of investment and commitment, which is why the courtship starts with him buying her expensive gloves and him continually taking her to fancy restaurants and even doing a detailed tour of his luxurious house.
To Mirabelle’s credit she sees through him and ends the relationship once he presses his luck too far. For me though the film’s best element is the character of Jeremy who has an amazing redemption arc. Jeremy is authentic, funny, humble, capable of growing and learning, and eager to love Mirabelle openly and fully. He is the anti-Ray and his glow-up is inspirational.
Shopgirl isn’t a profound film. I could write a very long essay on what it gets right and what it gets wrong about modern relationships. This story told today would be much more cynical in the age of social media. A guy like Ray would still be married and have seven different ‘Mirabelles’, and each of those Mirabelles would be juggling their own handful of ‘Rays’ and ‘Jeremys’ based on what plays better on their Instagram. The core message of Shopgirl is a sound one though, especially now twenty years later. That message is that in love, integrity and sincerity matter, especially from the woman’s side of things when there is an imbalance of wealth, experience, and power.
All that said I still cannot rate the film too highly. I didn’t love the overwrought use of music and the narration got on my nerves. Also I don’t think the chemistry between the leads was that great. Claire Danes is an undeniably gifted and beautiful actress with some properly seductive moments. However when you compare the romance here to something like Lost in Translation it is like night and day. What that film did with its use of music, how much character it could convey with a single line of dialogue, how much pathos it could transmit with one facial expression — it speaks to a vast difference in directing and writing talent.
Shopgirl simply isn’t as well-done nor is it trying to communicate anything nearly as subtle. It is a comparatively much shallower and more parochial theme. Overall I still enjoyed watching it and would recommend it to fans of the actors or anyone looking for a simple charming love story.
Grade: B-
