Flashback (2021) is a recent French comedy about a modern-day lawyer who successfully defends a rapist and then through various magical means is sent to various periods in time, during which she comes to understand women’s rights. It’s actually quite topical given the shitshow going on with abortion rights in the U.S. right now! While it’s definitely a broad comedy, it does a good job making its political point — that women have had to fight like hell for the basic rights men have taken for granted throughout history. And overall, the costumes were solid!
The costumes were designed by Thierry Delettre (modern-set Before Sunset, as well as Cyrano, My Love; Eiffel; and two Three Musketeers films coming in 2023). Let’s take a look at the historical costumes in chronological order (not necessarily the order they appear in the film). Note that lead character “Charlie” is often dressed in the wrong period, because she’s jumping around from era to era.
You can catch Flashback on Amazon in the U.S., and I definitely recommend it!
This looks fun. I realized that I subconsciously (until moments ago) expected French people to just have a bunch of Revolutionary-era clothes stuck away in closets and trunks that have been there since the 1790s! Because they have so much still standing from then, most of our US stuff is much newer. Silly of me, I know. Yeah what’s with the pansies?
Cross dressing tended to get you into trouble for most of history whether you were a man or a woman but Joan of Arc doesn’t seem to have had a problem until she was captured by the English and they were looking for excuses to burn her. Joan wore men’s clothes for practicality on the battlefield and apparently that was accepted by the French as justification for the unconventionality.
I missed it ! thought it was crap!
Well, Maybe not too late to change my mind.