TWIGGY Reviewed by GREG KING
Documentary
Director: Sadie Frost
Twiggy was one of the first supermodels to achieve international fame. Born Lesley Hornby to a working-class family in North London in 1949, she became a model at the age of 16. Because of her wafer-thin body she became known as Twiggy and found fame internationally. She epitomised London in the swinging 60s. This well researched and fascinating documentary profiles Twiggy and her life and achievements beyond the world of modelling.
She enjoyed a long film career. Ken Russell, one of the most famous film directors in Britain at that time, handpicked her to star in his big screen adaptation of the jazz-age musical The Boyfriend, despite a lack of acting experience. She won two Golden Globe awards for her role. Twiggy also appeared in My One And Only, a Broadway musical with Tommy Tune, for which she received a Tony nomination. She also starred in her own short lived tv variety show in 1975; she was also a judge on the long running America’s Next Top Model, and even enjoyed a singing career.
Actress turned filmmaker director Sadie Frost previously gave us the 2021 documentary profiling 60s fashion designer Mary Quant, and like that film Twiggy brings to life the era with its music, fashions and personalities. Frost gives us plenty of archival footage to give us a taste for the era, which has been deftly edited by Liz Deegan (Quant, etc) and Kristina Hetherington (The Duke, etc).
There is an extended and revealing interview with Twiggy herself, and she gives us some insights into her personal life and her own doubts. There are also plenty of interviews with many of her contemporaries including Joanna Lumley (herself a former model and star of the popular sitcom Absolutely Fabulous); singer Lulu; actors Robert Powell (who starred with her in a television movie of Pygmalion) and Dustin Hoffman, Brooke Shields, Fran Drescher, and Twiggy’s own daughter.
Twiggy is a slickly produced, feel good documentary that gives us some insights into the iconic 60s personality.
★★★
