Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s/2013/eOne Films/93 min.
There’s usually something fascinating, even fun, about a hot mess and that’s the case with writer/director Matthew Miele’s documentary “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s,” now available on DVD.
Miele’s film is a gushy tribute to luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman, the famed New York emporium and Art Deco palace that occupies an entire city block (Fifth Avenue at 58th Street) near Central Park.
There is much frothy conversation. We meet Bergdorf Goodman insiders, celebrities (Candice Bergen, Nicole Richie and Joan Rivers, to name a few) and a slew of designers (such as Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld) as well as fashion observers, writers, the New Yorker cartoonist from whom the film’s title is borrowed and real-estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, among others. William Fichtner narrates; no idea why.
Unfortunately, the interviews (many of which make the same points again and again) are never pulled together. The throughline – creating the gorgeous, glittering store windows for Christmas 2011 – becomes less interesting as it progresses and fails to unify the film.
Miele clumsily tries to mask the underlying condescension – even if you’re not one of the lucky few who can afford to shop here, you can peer in from the street through dazzling windows full of very expensive stuff – with a couple of offhand references to the economic downturn and by opening the film with a morning-has-broken sequence of a working-class guy who turns out to be a Bergdorf’s doorman. Cringe.
All that said, though, some of the talking heads are extremely entertaining. “What would you be doing if you didn’t work here?” Miele asks Betty Halbreich, a longtime personal shopper, known for her candid opinions and discerning eye. “Drinking,” Betty replies.
“Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s” also has a chic, polished look and offers a nice dollop of New York City history. For fashionistas and shopaholics as well as forbearing general-interest viewers, this is pretty good fun.
“Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s” is available on DVD, $25 list price with discounts via Amazon. Click here for more info.
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