21 January 2014
Why is it that we relate to Gala?After all, she leaves behind her “family” and a man who “loves” her for the superficial pursuit of success in the glam world. We should actually dislike her. However, if we look closer, we see that there is no real love for her in Rosov. Plus, she tries to leave her parents money and with a goodbye to her boyfriend: all good intentions.
Despite her bad childhood, though, she is determined and always has a smile on her face. In the dirty world of behind the scenes glam, she manages to stay clean. When her boyfriend propagates her success, she is not pleased to have gotten ahead, but rather upset that it went against her morals. She says that she is willing to do anything to get to the top, but we see that Gala has a strong moral compass. She will work hard but is not quite willing to give up her dignity.
Another example of this is toward the end of the film with Misha. Gala becomes unhinged after sleeping with him. With Misha, she has everything that she has ever dreamed of in front of her. Or, that is, everything we thought she wanted. WHen she tells MIchael that she will not marry him, we see that what she actually values is happiness. SHe merely thought that a glamorous life meant happiness because that is exactly what all the glossy magazines portrayed.
With this, the director Andron Konchalovsky is trying to say that this modern portrayal of happiness is false and that deep down the modern Russians cannot possibly value these things. Though Gala is not the only character to realize the same thing, too late. The editor of the glossy magazine pretends to take on these values, but we see they are not really what she believes. Her daughter, having grown up with these values, turns into a heartless monster. Her mother cannot even be mad, knowing it is her own fault. Finally, the fashion designer is out last example. He goes against what is true to himself just to make sales. His show was hit, though the only thing that made it popular was its equivalence to a circus. The designer lost his dignity trying to uphold these modern values. All three characters did: the editor, the designer and especially Gala.
At the end of the film ,Gala’s old boyfriend shoots her dead. Although the ending does not clearly confirm this, I believe it to be true. She waves goodbye to her childhood, finally free of the haunting memories. THen, she imagines a glamorous and happy life with Michael. In this life, he is a man capable of love and the glossy world has a heart, painting the covers of the magazines with Gala’s face, a beauty on the inside, shredding all the previous fashions to bits. THough at the very end of this montage, we see the magazine with her on the cover in the shred pile.
Andron leaves us with this final message: Not even in your dreams will this glossy lifestyle bring you happiness. We are left pitying the victims of this new ideal, no matte how selfish each of them may have been.
