Model Shop

In Los Angeles, 26-year-old architect George Matthews is unemployed and deep in debt. His live-in girlfriend Gloria is tired of him, and his car is about to be repossessed. He begins to scramble for $100 by visiting friends, hoping to stave off the finance company.

He visits friends hoping to scrounge $100 to postpone the creditors. The desperate gesture underscores his precarious situation and foreshadows the choices he will face later.

While searching for money, George spots a beautiful foreign woman in a white convertible and follows her to a mansion in the hills. The pursuit hints at a romance that could change his path. The setting in the hills also signals a step toward escape from his life in the city.

On the street again, he sees the same woman and follows her to a tawdry modeling studio where customers can pose for erotic photographs. He books a session hoping to impress her, but she remains uninterested. The encounter marks the start of a strange, transformative obsession.

Back home, George learns his draft notice has arrived and he must report for Army duty next week. The news pulls him into a confrontation with his own mortality and the fragility of his plans. For the first time, the future feels imminent and uncertain.

Gloria, meanwhile, lands a job with a new admirer who takes her out for the evening. Her changing fortunes highlight the emotional distance growing between her and George. The night shows him a life he no longer participates in.

Obsessed with the enigmatic Lola, George returns to the model shop and books another session. Lola reveals she is French, named Cecile but working as Lola, and shares the troubles that haunt her—an abandoned husband, a gambler lover, and a plan to return to France with her son.

During a tender night of drinking and lovemaking at Lola's apartment, George and Lola discuss failed romances, dashed dreams, philosophy, and mortality. Their dialogue rekindles a will to keep living and to seek a fresh start.

After their talk, George hands Lola the money he had borrowed to save his car. The gesture shifts from desire to practical support, signaling a possible new beginning for both of them.

The next morning, George returns home to find Gloria packing to leave. The couple's relationship has clearly deteriorated, and loneliness begins to loom over his ambitions. The day opens with a sense that nothing will be as it was.

George phones Lola to speak with her, only to learn from her roommate that Lola flew to Paris that morning with enough cash for a plane ticket. The news makes their distance literal and underscores the fragility of their connection.

As they talk, a tow truck arrives to remove George's car, marking the practical end of his stalled prospects. The life-affirming talk with Lola collides with the hard reality of his finances and responsibilities.

George tells his roommate, 'I just wanted to tell her that I love her. I wanted to begin again. A person can always try.' The line sums up his awakening: love exists alongside uncertainty, and hope remains a stubborn habit.