TWIGGY – Review by Diane Carson
As engaging and straightforward as its title luminary, British director Sadie Frost’s documentary Twiggy skillfully explores this multitalented model, film, theater, and television star. Through candid interviews with Twiggy, her daughter Carly, husband Leigh Lawson, numerous friends, and others with whom she worked, a personal and professional profile emerges of a multifaceted, largely unaffected, vivacious talent. With a factually oriented approach to Twiggy’s life, Frost balances Twiggy’s good luck at 16 to be dubbed “The Face of ‘66” by London’s Daily Express and thereafter catapulted to stardom with her dedication and hard work for succeeding decades.
Steering clear of overwrought praise for Twiggy, this profile probes the iconic model’s resilience and adaptability, illustrated by numerous photography shoots, archival footage of her diverse performances, and contemporary interviews. Reinventing herself and welcoming challenges, Twiggy’s fearless embrace of singing and dancing as Polly in Ken Russell’s 1971 The Boy Friend earned her two Golden Globe Awards. She moved on to Broadway and a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Musical for My One and Only with her good friend Tommy Tune. Enlarging her repertoire further, she hosted and quizzed celebrities for Twiggy’s People, judged on America’s Next Top Model, and modeled again from 2005 for Marks and Spencer.
All these details do not begin to convey her down-to-earth manner and cross-generational popularity. Even a mountain of photos, film and video footage, plus amusing animation barely suggest the full measure of Twiggy’s appeal which emerges as friends talk about her and as she relates her own story. Born Lesley Hornby in 1949 of working class parents and now known as Dame Lesley Lawson, she faced life with pluck and determination.
The third of three daughters, her mother Nellie probably, in Twiggy’s words, had a bi-polar personality. But good fortune struck like lightning when Twiggy (called that because she was skinny like a twig) played with her rag doll and glued three eyelashes on to her toy’s eyes. Twiggy grabbed attention when she next drew such exaggerated, dramatic eye lashes on herself after Leonard of Mayfair cut and colored her hair.
Described with a face like Greta Garbo, Twiggy remembers “it’s all about the eyes.” However, others criticized her as too short for a model (5’6”), too skinny (91 lb.), and not sufficiently curvaceous. Challenges in her early years came with controlling and self-invented manager Justin de Villeneuve and later with her first husband Michael Witney. Nevertheless, she succeeded and what now remains so truly enchanting is her fresh, unpretentious attitude toward life with full appreciation of her career, a blend of good fortune and never taking herself too seriously . Friends reinforce her authenticity and lack of artifice, including Dustin Hoffman who gives a hilarious imitation of Twiggy’s “truck driver laugh” and Brooke Shields who admires Twiggy’s navigating the shoals of fame, about which Shields also knows a great deal. Paul McCartney, Fran Dresher, Joanne Lumley, Lulu, Tommy Tune, Sienna Miller, and more, all affirm the same highly positive opinion. A feel good documentary that doesn’t gloss over struggles as it offers deserved admiration, Twiggy is now available for streaming.
