Ladies on the Rocks

"She has furniture in her eyes, but he won't marry her," is one of the more clever lines in Christian Braad Thomsen's feminist road-movie. Co-written by stars Helle Ryslinge (who plays Micha) and Anne Marie Helger (who plays Laura), along with Thomsen, Ladies on the Rocks follows Micha and Laura, a pair of cabaret performers, as they weave their personal misfortunes in love into their stage act. The film opens with Micha and her longtime lover Lennart, a slob rock musician, arguing over Lennart's adulteries, just as she and Laura are preparing to take their "Ladies Trip" show on tour. On the road, the women (who apparently have a similar act in real life) perform their skits, the best of which is a hilarious parody of the physical consequences of aging (one woman grabs a chunk of her tummy and boasts that she "can make small animals.") Beneath the humor, of course, is the pointed double standard that exists concerning female and male appearances. Unfortunately, Ladies on the Rocks attempts to graft a hackneyed story (Lennart gets the boot; Laura's husband Hans-Henrik dumps her) onto what is essentially a performance video, and the film therefore lacks the resonance of a well-crafted tale. Still, this could draw some interest due to the recent popularity and critical accolades--baffling to me--accorded Thelma & Louise. However, the battleground in Ladies is not the body but the mind (making Ladies a more intelligent if not necessarily better movie.) An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)