Meglamania in the Library

Found this old movie taken a couple of years ago, and the review that John wrote of it. Still very funny today.

Film Review: “Executive Vacuum”An initially disarming and then gripping portrayal of power and passion in the sterile, academic setting of a university library. A coup during the absence of the executive staff leads to the dizzying rise through the ranks of two women who, in a Thelma-and-Louise-esque feminist adventure, find themselves out of their depth, trapped in roles they grabbed for themselves and then cannot relinquish. The central drama is furnished by the interplay between the powerfully-portrayed personalities of the leading characters. Tension builds as the acquiescent receptionist pleads, “What are we supposed to be doing?” This plaintive cry for purpose, dignity and identity is pungent, as she senses she is being dragged along by a stronger, more forceful personality who is pursuing her own fantasy of unattainable goals and unsustainable follies. The receptionist’s horror and then compliance with Jenny is evocative of 1940s Germany, aware of the madness of her dream-merchant dictator, aware of the hideous fate that her choice to follow is dooming her to, and yet willing to embrace the leader’s Quixotic foolishness with glee. An ever darker theme that threads through the film, underlying the apparent capriciousness of the Jenny character, is the evolution of her power-mad megalomania. She relishes the opportunities that fate has delivered to her: a power vacuum and a coercible accomplice. The viewer can see her pathology gestating from initial assertion of control over her colleague to the chilling climax where she gives ululating voice to her Messianic delusion: “We are the library!” “We make all the decisions!”««« ½ JC