Medusa Deluxe: A camp whodunnit set in the cut-throat world of competitive hairdressing

Set in a labyrinthine studio building with winding corridors and lowlighting, the story takes place at a regional hairdressing competition where big egos and elaborately coiffed hair reign supreme. A camp take on your classic murder mystery, the story teeters both worlds as it introduces us to an ensemble cast of fiery characters – seemingly each with their own motive to kill. While the police are present, their investigation takes place very much in the background and it’s the tension between the central characters that sets the pace.

The victim is a hairdresser named Mosca, who has been scalped backstage. Thought to be the frontrunner in this year’s competition, he’s found dead seven hours into the event after his model returns from a cigarette break.

Where the storyline may falter at times, the acting is impeccable and Clare Perkins leads the pack as Cleve; confident and brash, she’s a talented stylist with a mouth that often gets her in trouble. Divine is her quieter rival, as passionate about hair as she is about God. Mother of the group Kendra arrives later, sharing conspiratorial conversations with Rene, the event’s organiser and the deceased’s former lover. His current lover, Angel, shows up soon after, their baby in tow. Security guard Gac is on the periphery of the group, with the models’ and stylists’ suspicions mounting by the minute. 

Why this setting? “I mean, I like hairdressing, that is the first point. I passionately like it and I kind of feel like it’s not been shown in cinema enough,” writer/director Thomas Hardiman tells me over Zoom. “Up here, you’ve got the importance of hair, it’s how you present yourself to the world. Culturally it’s vital. But you’ve also got down here, the gossip, the backbiting, the salon, and you pinball between the two and that’s comedy.” 

A fan of hairdressing but also of the murder mystery genre, Hardiman drew from many sources for inspiration – most notably, Robert Altman and French filmmaker Claire Denis. “Claire Denis was the first filmmaker I truly loved… So, there’s a clear reference in the dance at the end of the film to Beau Travail.” He’s “got a thing for 70s, American post-modernist writers”, he tells me.

He never writes with people in mind though and his dream cast came together very organically. “It’s almost sort of like a relay race, like you’re handing the baton over. I really deeply love the characters because they become so close to you, and it becomes this weird thing where you’re living in a world with these fake people effectively. And then you get to this point where it’s like this golden chalice or whatever that you’re handing across, and then you just let people run. 

“Then when they surprise you and do things that you just never even dreamed were possible, it’s just the most remarkable experience and you’re just so thankful. Gary Davy is an incredible casting director, and he just got the film from the first moment.”

The serpentine nature of the setting ties in with the name of the movie, which is a double entendre. The obvious associations are with the Greek myth of Medusa, a woman with snakes for hair who could turn people to stone with her gaze. But there are deeper associations that Hardiman wanted to hone in on. “This film is deeply tied to my mum because she went to get her hair done basically every week, and I sat in the hairdresser’s for hours of my formative years and it had a big influence on me. I’ve always thought that Medusa is quite clearly a misogynistic myth, like you can’t avoid it. She’s clearly the kind of crazy person on the edge of town, the ‘other’. And [this film is] about kind of turning that idea on its head and re-engaging with it in a new way. 

“It’s a female-led drama, a lot of the characters here are women and I was thinking about a kind of modern take on the Medusa myth. That’s where the ‘Deluxe’ part comes in,” Hardiman explains. 

The dynamic between hairdresser and customer, or in this case hairdresser and model, is an interesting one. Walls come down, secrets come out… all of which adds to the intrigue. And as it turns out, both the characters and conversations were based on real-life interactions. “Rene is very clearly based on a hairdresser called Osvaldo from Italy that my mum used to go to. He used to listen to the Pet Shop Boys and that’s why he’s got that ringtone. Like, it’s really specific.” Other parts of the film were shaped by Hardiman’s research as an adult, when he would sit at the back of different hairdressing salons and just observe people. His family was his biggest influence, however. 

“I come from a big Irish immigrant family. So, when they all get together, there’s a classic – which I suppose I didn’t realise because you just grow up in it – but there’s an Irish literary sense of a kind of raconteur thing. When the families get together, they all have their talks, and they all go on these long stories, and you just think it’s normal life, but then you realise that actually, it’s quite an Irish thing. I realised that that had had a massive influence and my family, they came over to the east end of London, they married amazing people from all around the world, so it’s a kind of a modern portrait of Britain to me. It’s quite reflected in the film, I would say it’s reflective of my family, all the characters.”

Working closely with Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan on the project, the result is a fluid, seemingly one-take film that makes the audience feel as though we’re being let in behind the curtain. As Hardiman puts it, “he’s a true artist”. That much is abundantly clear; Medusa Deluxe is a masterpiece of atmosphere, equal parts eerie and beautiful with a dark comedy that makes the whole thing pop on screen.

“I love comedy, but I like comedy when it’s right on the edge where you’re like, ‘Is it funny? Is it not funny?’ Where it’s kind of in that awkward space. That’s what I do and that’s what I’m interested in,” Hardiman says in response. “I think that specifically comes from a lot of writers that I like where they’re in a heightened world. The way that realism and comedy all play off each other to kind of elevate one another, that’s what I love and what I’m kind of going for here.”

As for that aforementioned dance sequence? It may seem in stark contrast to the rest of the movie, but somehow it works and it was all very intentional on Hardiman’s part. “For me, it was actually more about an emotional beat. It’s more about the character. There’s a particular character who, he’s the outsider in a sense of the film. And it’s about how can you push storytelling to show things in different ways. So, that dancing scene is an emotional beat for him, for him to be brought into the community. The film is essentially about a community that falls apart and comes back together through a shared passion. And I was thinking to myself, ‘How can I tell stories through hair? How can I tell stories through dance? How can I do all these different things and balance all these plates that, to me, felt like they were pushing the limits while also doing something that was just engaging and fun for an audience at the same time?’”

A genre that invariably appeals to the masses, Hardiman’s take is admittedly a little convoluted at times making it hard to feel emotionally connected to the characters, but the visuals will keep you hanging on until the very end. 

Medusa Deluxe is released in Irish cinemas from 9th June 2023.