March 29, 2024

Reuniting a quartet of screen legends — Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen — and plopping them into lush Italian settings for a bachelorette adventure is a can’t fail scenario in “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” a sequel to the 2018 hit opening Friday.

Critics have complained about a thin script and contrived plot twist. That’s all true and none of it matters. There’s plenty of pleasure in watching these four hugely talented and appealing actors who genuinely seem to like each other cavort through this confection. The meta trick is that they are all, essentially, playing themselves and we the fans are in on that central joke.

Fashion plays a key role in this film for that very reason: the clothes reflect what we already know about the actors playing the characters. In particular, quirky fashion star Diane Keaton wears all the hats, vests, wide-legged trousers and full midi skirts you could hope for.

“The chance to work with movie legends of such magnitude was the main attraction for me to work on this movie,” costume designer Stefano De Nardis told me in an email interview.

These are women in their 70s and 80s, and it’s significant that their clothes defy old lady vibes. This is the transgressive nature of the “Book Club” project: these older women look hot and are actively sexual beings, no small feat in our youth-obsessed culture.

To wit: Steenburgen’s Carol wears a low-cut red gown that causes a chef to overpour the Prosecco when he spies her. Fonda’s Vivian, whose engagement is the reason for the bachelorette jaunt, does a full-on bridal salon dress montage. Fonda is 85 years old, and seeing her pull off a Bride to Be sash and veil over her leopard print blouse at the Trevi Fountain is worth the price of admission.

De Nardis enjoyed this part of his costuming job. “To me, ‘age appropriate’ means being able to have a personal style and let it out through clothing,” he said. “I believe more in ‘personality appropriate,’ than ‘age appropriate.’”

He also believes in “a strong sense of dignity and in beauty. So anything goes, even if it’s daring, as long as it respects the (not always simple to handle, after a certain age) features of the wearer.” This is a delicate way of referring to the fact you won’t see crop tops in this film.

“The Next Chapter” opens with a pandemic Zoom sequence, which is painful to watch, mainly because going back to a quarantine headspace feels like chewing on under-leavened sourdough. The clothes they wear here are as depressing and dumpy as the ones we ourselves wore during lockdown.

But just as the foursome enlisted “50 Shades of Grey” to blast their senior sexuality into overdrive in the original movie, this time Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” sends the women in search of treasure and a shift in perspective. “The Next Chapter” transforms into a girls’ trip movie, with heady nods to “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Under the Tuscan Sun.”

The explosion into the technicolour Oz of Rome, Venice and Tuscany allows the costumes to soar. These are well-off women, but thankfully we get exuberant and colourful looks as opposed to the current vogue for quiet luxury (see: “Succession”).

Most of the wardrobe was made from scratch and fitted on the actors, which De Nardis said is very unusual for a contemporary project. He started out with inspiration boards of fashion and architecture images, plus mood boards building on the backstory of each character. He then created a colour palette for each woman: “Vivian (Fonda) was all gold and honey-toned suede. Diane (Keaton, yes, they used her real name) was all black and white, built on concrete and steel. Sharon (Bergen) was very WASP, so it was all American flags and primary colours. And Carol (Steenburgen) was sort of hippy chic: old paisleys, soft colours and flowing silks.”

The script afforded De Nardis a sartorial leap to what he calls “Made in Italy” fashion, when the women are parted with their suitcases and have to shop locally. “The fashion could be pushed slightly further and their looks became a little more daring,” he said.

The men in this sequel are very much relegated to the background, by design. Still, they make a mark. There is suave-looking Don Johnson, who plays Vivian’s fiancé. De Nardis subtly nods to the actor’s storied pastel-clad past by putting him in a powder blue wedding suit. There is still-got-that-gleam Andy Garcia, who plays the pilot partner of Diane, working the stubble look very well. Craig T. Nelson is the faithful husband of Steenburgen’s Carol, who cleans up nicely in Italy away from California casual.

But it is the nod and wink repairing of Bergen with Giancarlo Giannini (he plays the poliziotto who keeps thwarting but ultimately saving the gang of four) that really hits. Bergen and Giannini starred in the steamy 1978 classic “A Night Full of Rain” by Lina Wertmüller. In “Book Club,” the pair trade barbs with sure-footed comic timing — Bergen stands out in this film for her comedic prowess — and their story arc is a gem hidden inside this film.

The four women go through personal growth spurts together, aided by a little tough talk from their best friends. That sounds cynical, but it’s not; when things get sentimental, the movie rises above its madcap road trip premise. With actors that punch well above their weight, these characters transcend the ageist, diminished “types” that women are so often cast in — and dressed for.

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