BLOW DRY

Irish director Paddy Breathnach, later acclaimed for the queer drama VIVA (2015), was already exploring transformation in BLOW DRY, beneath its extravagant hairstyles, theatrical costumes and camp make-up. Driving it all is a brisk, energetic plot, embodied by Alan Rickman, who at one crucial moment dances with… a pair of scissors.

Abandoned by his wife, Phil Allen (Alan Rickman) is a former winner of the British Hairdressing Championships. Worn down by life, he raises his son and runs a modest salon with him in the picturesque town of Keighley. When the town is chosen to host the next edition of the prestigious competition, everyone urges Phil to enter – including his ailing former partner Shelley (Natasha Richardson) and her lover Sandra (Rachel Griffiths), once Phil’s model.

“It’s only hair,” one Keighley resident declares, provoking an uproar among the stylists, who prove with every snip just how seriously they take their craft. In Breathnach’s film, hair becomes a marker of identity, a field of near-sporting rivalry and, ultimately, a site of resistance against ageism and cancer. Even the simple act of cutting hair against the clock reflects the urge to push beyond one’s limits, and the final hairstyle is a powerful symbol of solidarity and family reconciliation.

‍

Text: Paula Apanowicz