Memorable images and a few catchy tunes do not a good film make

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2003)

Alex works at a steel plant during the day and as an exotic dancer in the evenings to try and make money to get by. Her ultimate dream though is to get into an exclusive dance school and train to become one of the top ballet dancers. Even though it seems impossible her boyfriend encourages her and she trains hard and sticks at it to make her dream come true.
The reasons why this film was so popular and has remained so well known are bewildering to me. The film's main selling points are the few catchy tunes (`what a feeling' being the most memorable) and pop music video images, these are the things that have stuck in the mind (and been repeated in other music videos) but the film itself lacks anything of substance whatsoever.
The plot is very weak. Another user compared it to Saturday Night Fever with the genders swapped but that is just unfair, Flashdance has no plot to speak of and, when it does try to act events and depth to the characters it just doesn't work. Instead it frequently just falls back on dance numbers in the strip club or footage to music of Alex welding or somewhat. The striptease dances are a total joke - I'm not sure what they were seen as then, but now, when lapdance clubs are the mainstream for men and women, the over-designed things that go on in the club here are just silly and certainly wouldn't draw the club of working men that supposedly pack the place out.
Beals is pretty poor apart from looking good semi-dressed. As a welder she looks so out of place it's funny, and delivering her lines she feels just as unnatural. I would love to say that she did such a good job dancing but a lot of that was picked up by Marine Jahan (who clearly didn't do enough for a credit!). None of the rest of the cast make any impression at all - Nouri's boyfriend is bland and all the rest are working class clichés to a man.
Overall this film is all style and no substance whatsoever. Why it was so successful or has remained so well known is a mystery but must be down to a few memorable scenes that stick in the mind and work as music videos rather than anything else. If you haven't seen this film then what would probably be preferable for you is to track down the video for Jennifer Lopez's `I'm Glad' (she released it on dvd single) - it is basically the film of Flashdance with all the memorable scenes put into a montage for the one song. It is shorter than the film, sexier than the film and has almost as much substance.