Modern Times: Welcome To Mayfair - 2014 - 7/10
Insidious little documentary about one of London's poshest neighborhoods.
The village Mayfair.
Rich residents, we only hear from one or two.
Not surprisingly, honest views come from pensioners who live in the old servant’s quarter.
What? Affordable digs in Mayfair? Apparently so.
Most of the chat, and the general drift of the narrative, flows from tradesmen.
Estate agents, shopkeepers, florists, the couple that run the tiny cafe.
Realtors do spectacular business as properties sell for millions of quid without ever getting listed.
Buyers range from nouveau riche to crusty money. Arab princes, footballers, Russian billionaires.
Most are shadows who covet an address, yet rarely abide in the neighborhood.
True casualties are the tiny shops. The fabric that weave and nourish any village.
One by one, they are squeezed out, replaced by Bulgaria, Tiffany, Hermes, Chanel, Prada, Cartier, Armani.
Global chains who peddle expensive bangles, mass produced in faraway factories.
Such is the sweep of life, however. Places alter, evolve, crumble.
The poor get displaced, the middle class cannot keep pace, the cost of living soars out of reach.
