Art Imitates Art World

Richard Clayton reviews the art world “comedy of manners,” Boogie Woogie that opens in London later this week:

Art-world insiders who have seen the film are divided. The society photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd maintains: “When word went round that a film was going to be made, there might have been a few people a wee bit nervous about how they were going to be presented. But then everybody [on screen] is such an amalgamation of different facets of different characters. You can sort of see people being vaguely recognisable, but it’s not a documentary, it’s a comedy, a romp. You can’t say A equals B or C equals D, and that’s probably a blessing for a lot of people.”

The art adviser Nathalie Hambro found Boogie Woogie’s art scene more instantly recognisable. “I had to smile,” she says. “The film really describes all the typical characters. In fact, they were hardly disguised for me. It’s a kind of kiss-and-tell about ambition, manipulation, huge insecurities, and all done with a sense of humour. It’s very well rendered.” Hambro, when she first started working in the art world, was shocked by how ruthless and manipulative people were. “Then someone said, ‘Nathalie, wake up. It’s absolutely normal for people to be so cut-throat.’”

Boogie Woogie: Sex, Drugs and Overpriced Art (Times of London)