Ariane Schluter in The Dress (1996)

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Alex van Warmerdam’s experimental Dutch drama The Dress (1996) boldly positions its titular garment as the main character of the film. Van Warmerdam allows his camera to follow the object from pattern design to manufacturing, and then to the store shelf where it’s purchased. Far from creating a dry documentary, however, van Warmerdam uses the set-up to explore issues of sex, greed, violence, and materialism as he shows the debased motives and vicious grappling that occurs wherever the dress travels. Ricky Koole, Maike Meijer, and Ariane Schluter are a few of the curvy characters who come into close proximity with the garment, but all three take turns stepping out of it to let their flesh flags fly.