Written by Dilan Fernando

Warning: The following review is of a film that is part of TIFF 2024 and may contain spoilers for The Last Showgirl. Reader discretion is advised.

Repertoire, spectacle, and ritual are the all-incumbent skills which must be honed with passion. This is the ideology that Shelley (Pamela Anderson) has created for herself, religiously following it from her naïve ambitions of becoming a great dancer (artist) as one character remarks, “ Because you were once young and sexy.” Anderson is The Last Showgirl (2024), a portrait of a dancer whose delirium and talent run parallel throughout the narrative. Shelley’s belief that a life of regret is because of a poor work ethic continues to grow stronger, conflating her acceptance of the audience (friends and family) into her performance (life). She may be a showgirl part of a company but is a self-acclaimed soloist. Selfishly creating to selfishly reap the admiration and praise that accompanies it.

Shelley has been dancing since she was about 20 years-old and over her 30 year career has realised that there’s one obstacle in her path to become great – herself. Anderson’s performance as a wide-eyed optimist who's never been given her flowers or been entrusted to grow as an artist shines, drawing from her personal life. From her time as a Playboy playmate to starring on Baywatch (1992-1997), Anderson’s sex appeal has been the forefront of her stardom without giving her an opportunity to show genuine acting talent. Shelley is the sun and everyone revolves around her only she doesn’t realise it, yet.

One is reminded of tragic cinematic figures like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950) and William Simon-Billy Bright in The Comic (1969), bound by their art in an Atlas-like paradox. As the senior dancer of the showgirl troupe she longs for the days when she first started dancing with dance numbers that extend from the Moulin Rouge in France (when dancing was eroticized and not overzealously sexualized). The other members of the troupe include Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Marianne (Brenda Song), one looks to Shelley as a mother figure, the other looks at her as competition. Leading, directing, and stage managing the troupe is the grizzled Eddie (Dave Bautista), who has as much invested in the dance troupe as Shelley, both of whom are lifers for dance.

Shelley begins having to come to terms with the trajectory of her life following news that the troupe will disband due to poor audience attendance. Will dance finally be put aside or is Shelley sentimentalising her ability? Here is where the film begins to dive deeper into the lifestyles of entertainers who must decide which responsibilities are important to them. Shelley has an estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd) who grew up living with family friends rather than her own family. Shelley tries to reconnect with Hannah but to no avail, even when given an opportunity there’s an unspoken tether that prevents Shelley from doing so. Dancing is Shelley’s drug and she’s an addict. Her best friend, a cocktail waitress at a nearby casino along the Las Vegas strip, is Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), the warmth of the film and its soul. Annette provides a guiding influence and a cautionary glimpse at the extremities of the individuality Shelley hopes to find in her life. The two share a close and sisterly bond. It is within this relationship that each of them show both selflessness and empathy, eventually learning to apply it to other aspects of their lives.

The compendium of dancing as a metaphor for womanhood is inconsistent with Kate Gersten’s screenplay and Gia Coppola’s direction. When each of these elements work together the pair manage to spin gold, otherwise the film is a sequence of set pieces. Mildred Pierce (1945) is a better example of a film that dissects the same themes of individuality, womanhood, motherhood, and self-assurance through self-reliance that are analysed in The Last Showgirl. What the film lacks is depth in its characterization of the supporting characters and further establishing the height of Shelley’s stardom as a dancer. The Last Showgirl is a film worth seeing as it shows the possibilities when opportunity meets preparation as Pamela Anderson remarked at the Q&A following the world premiere, “I’ve been preparing for this role my entire life.” She glistens, shimmers, and dances her heart out with a passionate drive only attributed to dreamers. Kudos Pam, kudos.

Dilan Fernando graduated with a degree in Communications from Brock University. ”Written sentiments are more poetic than spoken word. Film will always preserve more than digital could ever. Only after a great film experience can one begin to see all that life has to offer.“