Bombing around the French Riveria in a luxury boat (with boy toys attached at the rear, like luggage) and Aperol Spritzes in hand, it’s clear that Patsy and Eddy have gone full-on Onassis in the first trailer for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
We follow the chaotic duo gliding through a gauzy montage: walking along a sunkissed, Promenade des Anglais-ish beach, channelling Jackie O-with-a-Saint-Tropez-tan glamour and sharing grande boissons with some fellow travellers. As Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s classic ode to le rumpy pumpy Je t’aime non plus bubbles up from the sand, a voiceover announces: “Straight up, on the rocks … with a twist,” and we are left with the distinct impression that this “twist” is that, in fact, everything is not quite what it seems. Why does Eddy and Patsy’s life now resemble a scene from La Dolce Vita or, at the very least, a Cointreau ad from the 1970s?
Could it be that this is, in fact, a dream sequence from Eddy’s toxic mind? Probably. It’s a stylistic flourish that the TV show was not never scared of overusing. With the sketchiest details of the plot revealing that our heroines have ditched west London and Lulu in disgrace to imbibe the air of the French Riviera, and a cast featuring the likes of Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, Victoria Beckham, Jean Paul Gaultier and Stella McCartney (Saffy has presumably been left holding the coats), this is set to be the biggest cinematic “fash-wan” knees-up since Zoolander 2. Get the Bolly-Stolly out, sweetie.
