Cabaret (15)

Opulent, velveteen, and a site of utter hedonism. No, it’s not The Rex but the Kit Kat Club on the big screen in the BFI’s fabulous reissue of Cabaret.

Based on Christopher Isherwood’s account of his time living in Berlin in the early thirties and his 1951 play, I Am a Camera, Cabaret first enjoyed success as a stage musical. Recently revived on the West End and starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley as Emcee and Sally, the timing of the return of Bob Fosse’s 1972 film adaptation could not be more apt.

Set in the eve of the Weimar Republic, Cabaret centres upon Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), a young American performer whose pursuit of bohemian pleasures is as self-destructive as it is liberating. When Brian Roberts (Michael York), a reserved Englishman, moves into the boarding house where Sally lives, their oppositional natures generate an instant and magnetic bond. When Sally introduces Brian to the metropolitan Arcadia of the cabaret club - a locus of glitz, glamour, and greed - it appears to offer a bejewelled shelter from the reality of the increasing oppression of Fascism’s influence. But soon enough, unexpected pregnancies, affairs, and forbidden marriages begin to expose the unavoidability of the more unmusical aspects of life.

 With its iconic soundtrack of songs including Maybe This Time and Money Money, and the decadency of Rolf Zehetbaeur’s production design and Charlotte Flemming’s costumes, Cabaret offers a visual and sonic polyphony of rare quality.