Models

''Models are not used to people being interested in their human sides,'' according to Ulrich Siedl. Even though he has made this negative statement, it is exactly these sides that he puts his finger on in this form-conscious documentary about three fashion models in Vienna. It is not a flattering picture that is painted: these young women fill their days fixating on the size of their breasts and the fullness of their lips, resources and flaws are defined accordingto the wants of men. The longingfortrue love that can be seen under the surface of these young women is deadened by brief encounters, alcohol and cocaine. We follow these models at the gym, the cellulite-treatment sessions and photo-sessions, but above all their private life, such as in bed with a lover, with their girlfriends at the nightclub or sobbing on he toilet-seat, hoping to lose another kilo. The young women hunt for new jobs, new men and new kicks, but the lack of fulfillment is constant in the wheel that they are stuck in. In a way very specific of our times Siedl hardly has any hopes or ambitions of uncovering any form of existential depth in the characters. Using cold images and static framing, the director almost mimics the minimal ism of the late 1990s trend in fashion photography and, in a larger perspective, the entire shallow aesthetics of the fashion industry. The weird effect that this has on the viewer is that it drills a deep hole in oneOs soul, the shallowness and emptiness paradoxally become the fuel of the entire film. Siedl also often gives the camera the function of a mirror in which the models can look at themselves, which further enhances the claustrophobic feeling of extreme narcissism.