Gia Marie Carangi (1960- 1986) has been described as "the first supermodel", but the modern concept of the "supermodel", in the sense of a fashion model who is also an internationally known celebrity and sex symbol, dates from the early nineties and did not really exist during her lifetime. Outside the world of fashion itself, Gia was never famous in the way that her younger contemporaries such as Cindy Crawford, Paulina Porizkova and Linda Evangelista were to become a few years later. I certainly never heard of her while she was alive, although like most young men- I was in my teens or twenties at the time- I took an interest in beautiful young female celebs.
Gia's modelling career was a short one; it began in 1978 and was over by the end of 1982. Having left her native Philadelphia to move to New York, she suffered from loneliness, especially after the death of her agent and mentor Wilhelmina Cooper in March 1980. She began experimenting with drugs such as cocaine and heroin, and her addiction wrecked her career. It also destroyed her relationship with the great love of her life, make-up artist Sandy Linter, referred to in the movie as "Linda". (Gia identified as bisexual, but most of her relationships were with other women). She died from AIDS, probably contracted from shared drug needles, at the tragically early age of twenty-six.
This is the sad story told by this film, in which Gia is played by Angelina Jolie. Now I have not seen every film that Angelina has made, but she has never been my favourite actress, because those that I had previously seen, from "The Bone Collector" in 1999 to the recent "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil", have been at best mediocre and at worst downright awful. "Gia", therefore, came as a revelation to me, because it is by far the best performance I have seen from its star. One critic described it as "a thoroughly uninhibited and highly effective portrait of a woman living from thrill to thrill", but that would be an oversimplification.
To the outside world Jolie's Gia might seem no more than an irresponsible thrill-seeker, but there is more to her than that. Beneath the brittle gloss of celebrity, and the appearance she gives of being a rebellious free spirit, she is a lonely, confused and unhappy young girl who had too much too young and did not know what to do with it. The world of modelling is a superficial one in the most literal sense of that word, because a model's earning power is entirely dependent upon surface appearances. Gia Carangi instinctively senses the superficial nature of the world in which she lives, but cannot find anything worthwhile to replace it, and drugs are there to fill the void. Elizabeth Mitchell is also good as Linda, haunted by the realisation that there is nothing she can do to save the woman she loves from self-destruction. The nineties were a period in which the cinema was starting to portray same-sex relationships in a more positive way; tis was, for example, the decade which also saw "Philadelphia" and "Heavenly Creatures".
I must admit that I have at times been biased against American television movies, especially those based (or purportedly based) upon a true story. That bias has not always been an unfair one, as many such movies tend either to trivialise their subject-matter or to treat it in a dull and prosaic manner. "Gia", however, s one of the exceptions, a penetrating and sympathetic look at the life of its doomed heroine. 8/10
A goof. Although Faye Dunaway is reasonably good as Wilhelmina Cooper, she was really miscast in the role. Dunaway would have been 57 in 1998, whereas Cooper was only 40 when she died.
