We know something’s up as #BOSSBABE gets underway: not only are we at a funeral, but we’re at a very glam funeral, one which could almost be a photoshoot, if not for the sales talk colouring the eulogy. This eulogy – which refers to the entrepreneurial genius of the deceased, marking her out as a ‘boss babe’; it’s being delivered by another boss babe, our most important one – Sophie, sorry, Sofi (Katelyn Doyle) and we pick up with her in the next scene, which takes us back, pre-funeral. We know a boss babe has shuffled off this mortal coil, but who, and how?
#BOSSBABE answers this question in its short run time of twelve minutes, but it builds a fun, even relatable superficial world of faux friendships and modern preoccupations, camping them up and playing them out in a grisly little comedy-drama.
Sofi is a seller for pyramid marketing scheme Bevlon (and well done to the team for getting that one past the clipboards). It is, as you may have inferred, a cosmetics brand, which pushes its sellers towards unlocking ever-higher levels of excellence by promising them a special ring – bronze, silver or gold – as well as many other, aspirational perks. Sofi’s doing alright, but she wants to do better, so she is prepping for a recruitment event, preparing a marketing video – and I mean a video cassette – to promote what she’s doing (maybe this is a trendy lo-fi thing, or perhaps on a deeper level it just adds to the kind of picturesque, soft-focus confusion which runs throughout this film.) Sofi is put out by the arrival of some of the other high-ranking sellers – her ‘team’, but judging by all the mwah-mwah passive aggression which soon starts to fly, also her greatest competition – but there’s a big plus to all of this. The other girls have brought along a potential big new seller, one who comes with a big, exploitable social media following. Score!
The focus is on Sofi’s clear but concealed discomfort here, but honestly, the new girl Dani (Selena Goosney), marked out as fresh quarry by her astonishingly cosmetics-free face as well as her tantalising follower list, is just as uncomfortable. It all feels more of a cult initiation than a party, and it’s obvious that there is a lot seething away beneath the positive vibes. The film hints at a culture of mutual ‘support’ which is anything but, one certainly associated with the brutal world of pyramid selling, but perhaps also with women more generally; there’s a lot to unpick in there about female socialisation and stereotyping which goes beyond the remit of the film, but is certainly relevant to it. And in any case, the party is about to take a bit of a turn: things get briefly more obviously violent, to match the simmering tensions at play.
The film captures that sort of acid-saccharin, bitter but sickly sweet vibe really well, boosting its theme of superficiality with acid colours, bright textiles, trippy backdrops and soft focus. It all feels like a dream gone wrong; the camera work (closing in, swinging, moving here and there) and the lively running soundtrack match this fun, but somewhat sinister tone. #BOSSBABE is overblown good fun, a big pop of colour with a moral message. It notes that the world of fashion cosmetics walks a line between cutesy and cutthroat, and it sends it up very nicely.
#BOSSBABE screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2023.