Showgirls – The 4K film that risked destroying Verhoeven

Despite the passage of time, Showgirls continues to divide like few other films of the nineties. Dismissed upon its debut as a spectacular failure, Paul Verhoeven's work paid the price for its audacity. Behind the exhibition of bodies and desires, the director tells without false moralism a world in which every human relationship becomes a negotiation and success is a very heavy currency of exchange.

Nomi Malone is a dancer with a troubled past who arrives in Las Vegas convinced that talent and determination are enough to conquer the stage. She soon realizes that behind the lights of the big shows, very different rules apply. Every opportunity presents a very steep price to pay, and the path to success increasingly resembles a continuous negotiation, where the line between choice and imposition blurs to the point of almost disappearing.

Beyond the Scandal: The Dark Side of the American Dream

Verhoeven constructs an over-the-top melodrama, where excess and artifice are an integral part of the visual language. The spectacular choreographies coexist with deliberately exaggerated moments, transforming the narrative into a fierce satire of the American entertainment industry. Elizabeth Berkley is a Nomi who doesn't soften the edges, delivering a character with an unpredictable nature, capable of shifting from fragility to fury in an instant, a figure far removed from the reassuring ones of Hollywood cinema of the era. Showgirls remains among Joe Eszterhas's most discussed screenplays, who was in vogue at the time and whose career includes scripts like Basic Instinct 1 & 2, Jade, Sliver, and Music Box, his masterpiece.

Exaggerated and with a runtime that would have benefited from greater conciseness, Showgirls still strikes a chord today because it never sugarcoats what it depicts. Verhoeven paints the world of entertainment without turning it into a fairy tale of redemption, revealing an environment where success and sex often follow the same rules.

Shot on analog 35mm (Arriflex 35 BL4, Moviecam Compact) at high sensitivity (500 ASA) with consequent background grain. The work was restored in 2025 by the French company Pathé, in 2.39:1 format (3840 x 2160/24p), HEVC encoding on a BD-66 dual-layer disc. The native 4K material enhances the footage, highlighting skin and costume details, while the stage performances gain greater three-dimensionality. The color gamut appears less exuberant, delivering intense but never excessive colors, also thanks to Dolby Vision (absent on the American disc).

Blacks are solid and skin tones appear more natural, although the cinematic texture does not seem to have been fully preserved, with less evident grain and the sensation of DNR filters being used. On one hand, the BD-50 2K (included) has conspicuous grain but also excessive colors and light interference; on the other hand, HDR does justice to the chroma but with an overly solid visual frame.

English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with excellent dialogue from the center channel, maintaining good balance even in the most dynamic scenes. The soundtrack benefits from a wide and detailed soundstage, remaining aggressive even in “live” performances. Surround channels and bass are effectively utilized, promoting good spatiality, even if only at 16 bit. The original English further benefits from direct sound recording. Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 with acceptable rendition; it's possible that in Italian cinemas, the offering was only stereophonic.

No trace of the many extras produced over the various Home Video editions of the film, especially abroad. Embossed O-Card slipcover, numbered collector's card, limited edition of 1,000 copies.