In 1962, photographer David Bailey and the yet-to-be-discovered supermodel Jean Shrimpton were sent to New York on a prestigious Vogue photoshoot. We’ll Take Manhattan, starring Aneurin Barnard as Bailey and Karen Gillan as Shrimpton, tells the story of their love affair and how their controversial shoot inadvertently helped shape the face of a decade.
Starring in what is essentially the biopic of Bailey’s early career, Aneurin Barnard brilliantly portrays the role of the laddish, cocksure photographer on the shoot that would make his career. Having landed himself a job as a photographer for Vogue magazine, Bailey meets aspiring model Jean Shrimpton on a shoot, and soon she becomes the focus of his muse. Although he was already married when they met, Bailey and Shrimpton’s explosive love affair was destined to set both of their careers into motion.
When he’s hired for a prestigious Vogue shoot in New York with the magazine’s fashion editor, Lady Clare Rendlesham (Helen McCrory), Bailey specifically requests that Jean Shrimpton is his model. Inspired by his passion for Shrimpton, Bailey dares to take photographs that break the rules. Refusing to conform with regulations (something he was already prone to do, having extra-marital affairs with his models), Bailey's ground-breaking imagery was a first in fashion, stripping away the pretense of the industry in favour of something more natural, raw and alive.
In the role of Jean Shrimpton, Karen Gillan provides a wonderfully natural performance, managing to portray her as innocent and unassuming, in the thrall of Bailey, but with enough edge to not make her seem too naive. Gillan was absolutely spot on and perfect in the role of the aspiring model; although with Gillan’s looks, it certainly made a mockery of Lady Clare’s quips about Shrimpton not being good-looking enough!
Although the story was about the relationship between Bailey and his muse, Shrimpton, the main narrative of We’ll Take Manhattan was largely founded in the conflict between the old guard of fashion photography and the revolutionary, albeit rebellious, vision of the future. Frequently going head-to-head, the prim and proper Lady Clare and the brash Cockney Bailey represented the stark differences between the previous rigid conventions and the emerging fresh youth culture that was soon to take precedence. At times this conflict felt a little two dimensional, with Bailey sometimes coming across as a Rebel Without a Tripod rather than a stifled artistic genius, but ultimately it showed his determination to realise his vision, which would go on to create some of the most influential and iconic images of the sixties.
Overall, although it was a little two-dimensional at times, We’ll Take Manhattan was a stylistically filmed and enjoyable piece of television with a strong vibe of early sixties. If you missed it, the film is available on BBC iPlayer here.
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