Gia Coppola’s latest film The Last Showgirl is a fascinating look at life in the arts. Well, not exactly the arts. But maybe arts adjacent? Unlike Paul Verhoeven’s inscrutable Showgirls, Coppola’s film does not take the Vegas Showgirl scene seriously. Instead, she depicts showgirl dancing as a loved tradition to no one except the film’s star.

Pamela Anderson stars as the titular Last Showgirl and this is a film that I don’t think quite works without her. Anderson is delivering a performance that rises above not only people’s expectations of her but also the movie she’s starring in. The Last Showgirl isn’t a perfect film, but it’s a moving piece of art that asks us to examine art. And think hard about the decisions we make in pursuit of those efforts.

Beauty/Youth

The Last Showgirl shares themes similar to some of 2024’s most lauded films. Anora feels like a companion piece to this film, focusing on a woman young early in her sex work career who almost gains the world through her beauty. The Substance, my favorite film of 2024, follows a woman after her career in the arts has ended. Where The Last Showgirl differs is that Shelly, the 57-year-old protagonist played by Anderson, has none of the pros and all of the cons of her Anora and Substance counterparts. She has lost the youth wisely utilized by Anora, and unlike Elisabeth Sparkle, she doesn’t even have a satisfying career to look back on. She’s left old and penniless with a career wasted dancing topless on the Vegas strip.

Shelly would tell you her life wasn’t wasted. That her career was meaningful and she was a star of Vegas. but everyone, even Shelly, in the end, knows this isn’t true. She abandoned life, love, and the pursuit of a family in favor of her career. And in the end, only has regret to show for it.

Chasing Your Dreams

Films like this, ones that show our hero at the end of their career realizing the time they’ve missed, are often less brash about the protagonist’s situation. We see Adam Sandler in Click abandoning his family in favor of his work at a prestigious architecture firm. Or George Clooney in Up In the Air, who must re-evaluate his life of constantly ending others’ careers. But here, Coppola frames Shelly as a woman with no regrets.

She has been dancing at the same Las Vegas revue for decades and only has fond memories. And she scolds anyone who insists otherwise. She even takes the bold stance of telling her estranged daughter to follow her dreams and not take the crushing corporate job. While following dreams and chasing stardom is noble, The Last Showgirl raises the question, what if your dream is low-quality smut? It’s like Uwe Boll telling you to pursue a career in film. Yes, that’s noble, but we’ve seen your work. Can you really be trusted?

Shooting Showgirls

Pamela Anderson does an amazing portraying Coppola and writer Kate Gersten’s themes narratively but the camera work and oversaturation may turn some viewers off. Many of the scenes, especially in the first act, are shot in tight closeups with a wide lens giving the film an almost out-of-focus look. I’m sure this is an aesthetic choice to either portray the Vegas heat or Shelly’s fraudulent hazy dream but it didn’t always work for me. Where the film does work is in its minimalistic style and execution.

Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls is almost the antithesis of this film despite sharing the same subject matter. Where Verhoeven relied on major spectacle and excessive nudity, The Last Showgirl spends virtually zero time on stage. We barely get a glimpse of the stage performance and instead spend most of our time backstage watching these girls bicker and lament their situation. There is no big grand spectacle and the audience is left with no question on whether this show is worthy of being saved. It’s an aging show led by an aging cast and the time has come for the final curtain.

Mothers and Daughters

The other theme Coppola is playing with here is the relationship between mothers and daughters. It’s revealed late in the film that Shelly’s relationship with her daughter isn’t just strained, it’s borderline non-existent. After giving birth, Shelly abandoned her daughter, leaving her with foster parents. The struggles of raising a child and performing nightly were just too much. And Shelly made the choice to pursue her career rather than caring for a daughter.

This isn’t just alluded to in the film. It’s made very evident through dialogue between both Shelly and her daughter and her daughter’s father. Shelly could have been a mother or she could have been a showgirl. In the end, she chose Showgirl. A career with an expiration date in an art no one respects.

A Life Wasted

Despite Shelly’s flaws and previous mistakes, The Last Showgirl is subdued enough to not punish our lead more than she punishes herself. We see Anderson throughout the film fervently defend her decisions. What choice did she have? She was a showgirl, a star. She craved the spotlight and loved her career. The choice was hers and Shelly owned it. Until in the third act when she doesn’t.

Shelly finally has her come to Jesus moment and stops trying to fool herself. She comes to the same realization that her friends and we as the audience have known all along. That maybe not all dreams are worth pursuing. Especially when they come at the cost of your family. The Last Showgirl is a tough film to watch and a tough one to analyze. We all want to pursue our dreams even when they seem silly to others. The Last Showgirl puts our heroine in the tough situation of realizing that maybe everyone around her was right. Maybe this dream wasn’t worth pursuing and the cost was greater than the reward. It’s a poignant look at age, beauty, and a career in the arts. Even the art no one appreciates.