Produced by and starring Immodesty Blaize, Britain’s burlesque queen, this well-made documentary offers a thorough look at the dance-form’s resurgent popularity. Combining extended footage from Blaize’s hugely popular Tease Show and interviews with burlesque stars old and new — the stand-out being Satan’s Angel, all smoky Bacall tones and sassy humour — there is much to enjoy here.
Yet given Blaize’s central thesis is that burlesque’s appeal is all about the element of fantasy, there’s an internal illogic in ‘undressing’ it like this, and while it’s interesting to see behind the curtain, some of the magic Blaize is attempting to celebrate is thus inevitably lost.