The Gold Diggers (1983) DVD

The Gold Diggers is the debut feature length film directed by Sally Potter, a deeply mysterious and staggeringly beautiful work that follows the quests of two women as they seek answers to two connected riddles. Ruby (Julie Christie) is an actress who begins asking questions about her identity when she meets Celeste (Colette Laffont), a typist in the City who makes enquiries of her own about what lies behind the figures she works with. The narrative is always ambiguous but The Gold Diggers is extremely direct in its sustained interrogations into notions of female performativity, as well as the connections between money, gold, and women, all objects of exchange.

Like many debut features The Gold Diggers contains a riot of cinematic cross-referencing but Potter’s skill is in her ability to offer a critique of the films that have obviously inspired her. The all-female crew acts as a rejoinder to the male world of filmmaking and the results of Potter’s collaborations are breathtaking. Babette Mangolte’s stunning black and white photography brings out the beauty of the unfamiliar worlds Ruby and Celeste enter into, and Lindsay Cooper’s score is so in tune with the actor’s movements that it keeps the film constantly on the edge of becoming a musical.

This BFI release is the first time the film has appeared on DVD, and it’s accompanied by five early short films that demonstrate how Potter’s vision bloomed into the main feature. The 60 page booklet includes appreciations by Jonathan Rosenbaum and Sophie Mayer, as well as a long interview with the director.

James Mansfield