Though dressed in sequins and feathers and rhinestone headpieces that resemble unusually elegant birdcages, Shelly (Pamela Anderson) is a dinosaur. In Gia Coppola’s wistful character drama “The Last Showgirl,” Shelly represents the end of an era: a woman approaching 60 who’s spent her entire career as a performer in a splashy Las Vegas revue, the sort of thing that was popular long ago but has now given way to arty circus shows. Indeed, early in the film Shelly and her castmates learn that their show, perfectly and sadly named Le Razzle Dazzle, is about to end, as will their steady paychecks. It’s heartbreaking news for Shelly, who loves everything about performing in the show, waxing rhapsodic about “the costumes, the sets, being bathed in that light night after night.” But nonetheless, she has to figure out her next step — a difficult one, in a world where women her age have become invisible.

Filmed on grainy 16mm stock, giving the movie a soft otherworldliness, “The Last Showgirl” mostly just lets us spend time with a group of women. Shelly, whose baby voice hides a fierce determination, has assembled a family at work — younger dancers Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song), retired dancer-turned-cocktail waitress Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis, expertly stealing the movie) — to replace the one she doesn’t have offstage. Her daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd) resents the years her mother spent with the show, and is now mostly estranged. Shelly lives in a modest house that looks like nothing in it has changed in decades, as befits a woman whose very career seems to be in the past. Time has stood still for Shelly for some time; now the clock is finally striking. In an audition, she lies about her age and asks, desperation in her voice, just what it is the casting director wants. His answer is harsh and honest: someone younger, someone better.

Not a lot happens in “The Last Showgirl,” which doesn’t really find a resolution for Shelly, but it’s an appealing collection of moments: of women laughing together, of dancing when no one is watching (in one remarkable scene, Curtis’ Annette becomes transformed in an impromptu, closed-eyes performance; nobody else in the casino even notices her), of what it’s like to love your job not for what it is, but for what it represents. And Anderson, who may well have been waiting her entire career for a role this rich, finds something sweet and haunting in Shelly, whose whispery voice sounds like a shadow and who sees art and value where Hannah sees tacky exploitation. “Our show is legendary,” Shelly says, pleadingly; whether it’s true or not, you know she believes it.

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'THE LAST SHOWGIRL'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language and nudity)

Running time: 1:29

How to watch: In theaters Jan. 10

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