Model

focuses on the doings and dealings of the New York modeling agency Zoli, which serves clients ranging from Chanel to Bloomingdales. Frederick Wiseman captures the hectic office atmosphere, intakes with potential models, opinions on looks and portfolios, and screen tests and photo shoots, both in studios and on location. Models act while photographers direct them: "A little less innocent, a little sexier, more provocative," or "Fun, fun, fun!" In , it quickly becomes clear how much the art of seduction relies on casting, outfits, makeup, and staging. Wiseman shows us media figures who do the polar opposite of what he does as a representative of Direct Cinema: they intervene, set the stage, and run the show. In this sense, the film is about "the gap between reality and illusion," as a male model puts it while talking with Andy Warhol. Wiseman dissects the artificiality of the beauty ideal by paying a lot of attention to makeup. He intersperses footage of photo shoots with shots of trucks, couriers, and hobos. The most unusual scenes are the ones in which reality and illusion intersect, such as when a director tells a young actress that her angry reaction to the media has to feel natural -- or when a group of demonstrating feminists turn out to be models.