Fashion Movies: 'We'll Take Manhattan'

I’m sure you’ve all had the experience of watching something so amazing you immediately have to go and write about it – well the BBC film “We’ll Take Manhattan” – starring Karen Gillan as Jean Shrimpton and Arneud Barnard as David Bailey is a semi-documentary following the story of how the 1960’s most famous model and photographer began.

The dialogue is precise, well performed and flowing, and the film keeps you hooked throughout all of its ups and downs – but most importantly – it’s a film about fashion. Between Karen Gillan’s stunning modelling and the lovely vintage clothes which are some of the main parts of the film, you get lovely views of New York – though not the ones you expect, which is what the real photographer David Bailey was famous for – he marked the change in fashion photography getting, well, more fashionable.

His revolutionary photography included now famous shots of Jean Shrimpton standing behind a metal fence, and her on a grubby balcony next to an aerial, with a faint silhouette of the Empire State Building in the background.

(Above; Jean Shrimpton as photographed by David Bailey in New York 1962.)

(Above, left to right; Gillan and Barnard in 'We'll Take Manhattan', recreation of 1962 photograph.)

And because of the long standing rumours of a relationship between Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey – and why it didn't last – the film is speckled with slight romance and deliciously tense moments – although the final scenes brought tears to my eyes. Both characters are portrayed perfectly, and while you get to know both better, it also gives you an insight into how the fashion industry worked before it was modernised to what we know today.

“We’ll Take Manhattan”, in my opinion, contains all the qualities that a great film has to have – great actors, good plots, stunning camera shots and interesting topics (fashion) while still being, as I said before, a semi-documentary – the whole time you are watching it, you are learning about real events that happened in the past – despite the fact that the dramatization probably added in a few bits to make it more exciting. I recommend it to anyone and everyone!

It originally aired on BBC 4 in May, and you can either get a DVD already, or there will be one coming out soon. It’s definitely worth it, and will be added to my mental list of favourite movies.