I don’t know any filmmaker who protected himself less than he did. — André Téchiné, on Jacques Rivette
In DUELLE (Rivette, 1976)—set in Paris—Viva, the Queen of the Sun (Bulle Ogier), and Leni, Queen of the Moon (Juliet Berto) descend to Earth and outmaneuver one another for primacy. This annual battle of wills takes place during the forty days leading up to the first full moon of spring.
Rivette’s telling—which co-stars Nicole Garcia, Hermine Karaghuez, and Jean Babilée—captures an indelible moment of mid-1970s chic, with Ogier modeling a series of RenéeRenard ensembles modeled after Yves Saint Laurent’s le smoking.
Mise-en-scène is a rapport with the actors, and the communal work is set with the first shot. What’s important for me in a film is that it be alive, that it be imbued with presence, which is basically the same thing. And that this presence, inscribed within the film, possesses a form of magic. There’s something profoundly mysterious in this. . . . It’s a collective work, but one wherein there’s a secret, too. — Jacques Rivette
“I was once a professor at the College of Applied Art in Vienna. In the short period in which I lectured, I realized that I had absolutely no educational fiber whatsoever, that I wasn’t interested in my students. Without being egotistical, what I do is make things. Explaining it to others is not my thing at all. I’m a battlefield person. And generals don’t necessarily make a good minister of war.” — Karl Lagerfeld
“It is with deep sadness that the House of Chanel announces the passing of Karl Lagerfeld, the Creative Director for the Chanel Fashion House since 1983. Virginie Viard, director of Chanel’s fashion creation studio and Lagerfeld’s closest collaborator for more than thirty years, has been entrusted by Alain Wertheimer with the creative work for the collections, so that the legacy of Gabrielle Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld can live on.” — Chanel, February 19, 2019
“I love frivolousness. I know a lot of people who would have disappeared long ago had they not been frivolous… I hate it when the gentlemen with their taffeta and scissors take themselves too seriously. I love everything that is transcient. You should never anchor yourself in an epoch. The tale of Romeo and Juliet lasted only one night, and now it’s the symbol of eternal love.” — Karl Lagerfeld
The fashion designer, creative director, photographer, artist, publisher, bibliophile, actor, author, costumer, and aphorist was a cherished contributor to PARIS LA, supporting Chanel’s campaign collaborations over the last ten years, and creating a poster for Issue 5.
“I have no conception of my valuable time. For me, wasting time is the ultimate luxury. For example, if I’m lying on the couch and reading an interesting book when I should be doing something else, maybe that’s wasting time. But the stimulation of a guilty conscience is extremely creative. It’s the spice of life.” — Karl Lagerfeld
Lagerfeld quotes from Deutsch Vogue Dialogues, “Camouflage, Camouflage: Voyeur Karl Lagerfeld in conversation with his friend Gabriele Henkel, an expert on the stage management of life” (originally published in Deutsch Vogue in 1992), edited by Condé Nast Germany (Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2004), 110–114.
“My beautiful city is set on rock between two flowing paths of water that run to the sea. My city is tall and jagged—with gold-slated towers… My city chokes on its breath, and sparkles with its false lights—and sleeps restlessly at night. My city is a lone man walking at night down an empty street watching his shadow grow longer as he passes the last lamp post, seeing no comfort in the blank, dark windows, and hearing his footsteps echo against the building and fade away.” — Jerome Robbins
Admired, disparaged, beloved, feared, JeromeRobbins (1918–1998) was one of the great choreographers of the twentieth century. ArthurLaurents told Robbins he was “a shit” for naming names as a “friendly witness” for HUAC. (Robbins feared being exposed as bisexual.) Yet Laurents continued to collaborate with him, most notably on West Side Story. (StephenSondheim, the show’s lyricist, said that Robbins was one of the only geniuses he’d ever worked with.)
Through his work with the American BalletTheatre and New York City Ballet, and on Broadway—On the Town, Gypsy, and Fiddler on the Roof, to name just three shows among dozens—Robbins was indelibly associated with his home base and muse: Manhattan.
A new exhibition curated by Julia Foulkes marks Robbins’ centenary and his lifelong celebration of the city, and includes dance films and videos, diaries, paintings, story scenarios, press clippings, and extensive photographic documentation.
From top: Sharks and Jets dance in West Side Story, on tour in Europe in the early 2000s; the original Fancy Free cast—MurielBentley, Janet Reed, Harold Lang, John Kriza, and Jerome Robbins—in Times Square in 1958, with photographer Gordon Parks leaning over his tripod, courtesy the Jerome Robbins DanceDivision/The New York Public Libraryfor thePerforming Arts; Mikhail Baryshnikov in the NewYork City Ballet production of The Four Seasons (1979), choreographed by Robbins; AntoinetteSibley rehearses Afternoon of a Faun with the choreographer, photograph by Michael Childers, courtesy Dance Magazine; Damian Woetzel and Tiler Peck dance Robbins at Kennedy Center, 2017; Carmen de Lavallade, Robbins, and Yves Saint Laurent—photograph by Whiteside—and Robbins in 1944, both courtesy Dance Magazine.
They met in 1966 on the set of Belle de Jour—each making indelible contributions to Luis Buñuel’s masterpiece—and the following year she was the first to wear the designer’s “le smoking” tuxedo.
In the decades that followed, the relationship between Catherine Deneuve and Yves Saint Laurent bridged friendship, creative expression, and commerce—she was his greatest ambassador.
For Thursday’s live auction at Christie’s, the star has emptied her Normandy closets of over 120 YSL couture pieces. (An online auction the day before will focus on prêt-à-porter.)
From top: Yves Saint Laurent and Catherine Deneuve, 1968; Helmut Newton (foreground) photographing Yves Saint Laurent and Catherine Deneuve in 1981, photograph by Bruno Bachelet/Paris Match via Getty Images, image credit Christie’s; from right, Zizi Jeanmaire, Deneuve, Françoise Hardy, Elsa Martinelli, and Hélène Rochas at Saint Laurent, 1967, image credit Getty Images; Deneuve at Saint Laurent, photography credit Botti/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images.
Documentarian Olivier Meyrou was imbedded within the house of YvesSaint Laurent from 1998 to 2001, the designer’s last years at the maison he founded with Pierre Bergé. Unsurprisingly, neither of the principals was in top form during these years of final decline, and—displeased with the results—Bergé suppressed the commercial release of the footage.
Since his death all legal barriers have been cleared, and the paradoxically titled CÉLÉBRATION opened this week in Paris.
Q & A’s with Olivier Meyrou at Beaubourg on November 15 and 20.
Stills from Célébration. Image credit: Hold Up Films.
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