I Want To Identify

For a while, for me, the abstract notion of a female was OK. It was better than nothing. But now I find I crave a solid being. To converse with, to see myself within, as a woman. Not male, not an abstraction of masculinity, not, at best, a transcendence of gender. Someone who saw and spoke and could touch.

Self with Godard filter

Agnes Varda, Cleo from 5-7

Godard, Une Femme is Une Femme

(I've been thinking a lot lately about the nature of pop-culture patriarchy, how and where female pleasure comes into things - this is from a longer piece I'm working on right now.)

Alma Jodorowsky

Hey look! It's another flawless brunette Frenchie with liquid liner skills and a truly excellent fringe situation and sick style. Oh and Alma is also the grand daughter of Alejandro Jodorowsky, no less. Am I predictable? Very well then I am predictable. But when France stops producing style crushes I will stop crushing.

Céline and Julie Go Boating

Céline et Julie vont en bateau (1974). Not sure how I missed this one for so long - French New Wave, tarot, magic, Montmartre; it's a surreal female buddy film (which let's face it is the best kind). With a running time of over three hours, you might want to settle in with some popcorn and comfy cushions. But once you do, get ready for a psychedelic adventure and musing on friendship, story-telling, film-watching, imagination and not to mention the quite excellent fashions. Here's a preview.

With her red curls, brown dress, clogs & retro clear frames, Julie has maximum American Apparel meets Dewey Decimal vibes.

THAT MICK JAGGER DO. Céline with her feathers, scarves and 70s hair, has a more dated but sincerely excellent skinny-Groupie mega steez.

Sick overalls, Céline

Dewey decimals yo

Pineapples? YES

Note to self: COSMIC TWILIGHT PIMPS is an excellent band name

Sick dragon eye rings ladies

Not enough denim

Anna (1967) 

At the risk of becoming a walking Tumblr of New Wave movie stills and inspirational quotes, I would like to state the following:

a) Anna Karina and Marianne Faithfull movie trailers, especially if they are from 1967, and especially-especially if they are the Japanese version, are worth posting and/ or watching.

b) I still stand by my intense dislike of musicals; which makes no sense because I love both movies and music.

c) If you are a fan of movies, and in particular New Wave movies, and happen to be in Sydney, I recommend a visit to Kinema. I recently spent a humid Sydney night watching Breathless FOR THE FIRST TIME ON A BIG(GISH) SCREEN here and it was spectacs. I mean: this line. 

FIN.

Dim Dam Dom

NEWS FLASH: I love all things ‘60s. NEWS FLASH: I also love France and French-related products, people, fashion and culture. NEWS FLASH: I found a TV show that incorporates ALL of these things plus MORE. Ok I’m going to stop doing that now. NEWS FLASH: I lied!

‘Dim Dam Dom’ was a French pop music show that ran in the golden era from 1965 – 70 and starred people like, oh, I don’t know, Jimi Hendrix, Jane Birkin and Anais Freakin Nin. NBD.

Everything about it: the ‘experimental’ camera work, the retro intro (with vocals from yé-yé popstar France Gall), the art direction and style… it’s a GOLDMINE of AWESOME. You’re welcome.

File this one under: further reasons to love the internets. Thanks internets!
Also file under: things to buy me for my birthday.

More info here at French Wiki
DVDs of the series available at Mod Cinema

Paris in Autumn

A few things I loved:

1. Morning light through the window

2. The food… oh, the food. Laduree, escargot, fries with everything, beignets, macarons, patisseries, steaks, cheese.

3. The big stuff. If there is one thing the French know how to do – it’s huge, awe-inspiring monuments. Scale is everything – yet the overall effect is somehow subtle rather than intimidating.

4. Warm spiced red wine in the Tuileries. Perfection. We were also given free cookies by some American dude – I know it’s like Abduction Avoidance 101 to not eat free candy from strangers but we’re OK so maybe that moral needs re-looking at.

5. Colette. Pretty people, pretty stuff.

6. Hanging out with Jess, who rules. She likes: bolied eggs, obscene hats and giving herself DIY haircuts without telling anyone. Here’s our homage to Sartorialist-style Tulieries shots.

7. NIGHTCRUISE. Down the Seine! My face froze and I think it was singlehandedly responsible for my post-Paris mega cold but I stand by it.

8. The Montparnasse Cemetery. Not creepy at all. A quiet, relatively tourist-free zone, peaceful, crisp and still. We spent about 793 hours looking for Man Ray and Brassai – and Serge Gainsbourg’s spot made me smile.

9. Just everything.

Here are things about Paris no one tells you:

1. The coffee is terrible. Just, really really bad. And I thought London sucked! Starbucks is actually your best option most of the time and I don’t say that lightly. The only good cup we had was at a vaguely Australian-themed café Kooka Boora thanks to an insider tip from the ever-so-helpful Ben. Otherwise it was fairly, by which I mean totally, undrinkable.

2. Hotdogs have two sausages!

3. People stare at you. I mean, really eyeball you – and shamelessly. ESPECIALLY on the metro, but pretty much everywhere. The thing is: you have no idea if it’s good or bad, because the French, their faces are made to keep secrets! Judgemental secrets! Or secret admiration! Who the fuck knows.

4. They like speaking English.

5. I’m pretty sure if a bar has a blue light that means it’s a gay bar. I might be wrong here, can anyone confirm or deny?

6. Opening hours are suggestions only. You can pretty safely ignore them. People seem to open and close their businesses as and when they want; which sounds haughty, and maybe it is, but I can dig it.

Miss Dior Cherie, starring Natalie P

Could this *be* any Frencher? The much-anticipated Sofia Coppola-directed vid for fragrance Miss Dior Cherie has been leaked (oh, internets, I can't stay mad at you!) - and to no one's surprise it's basically a competition to see how many French girliness one can cram into 31 seconds. If anyone is ready for this challenge it's Coppola, whose films are as slight and delicate as a Ladurée macaron. I've just seen it for the first time and I can't quite decide if pretty, yet unadventurous, is quite enough to hold my interest. What do you think? Portman sure does rock the cat-eye thing though.

The offish Dior Cherie site is quite well done if you're so inclined to visit.

Gainsbourg (Vie Héroïque)

What kind of Francophile would I be if didn't mention the new Serge Gainsbourg biopic? Answer: a really crappy one. Adored, creepy, outrageous, talented, drunken: Gainsbourg was all kinds of Byronic awesome, and has pretty much reached legend/ hero/ mythological status in France. Yeah, we all love a rebel artist.

At the risk of being blacklisted by Frenchies, I confess I'm not a huuuge fan of his music; but it's certain that as well as his disturbingly prodigious output as a muso/ actor, he embodies the anti-establishment, purposefully provocative mood of France in the '60s. He was up in people's face and they loved it. For all of his trysts (I've been waiting for a chance to use the word "tryst"), including an infamous ooh-la-la with sex kitten du jour Brigitte Bardot, it's his marriage to British nymph (and style icon of choice over here at FA towers) Jane Birkin for which he is most remembered. And who can blame us? Huh? In case you need convincing, witness below a selection of Gainsbourgs at their peak.

It's rumoured that director Joann Sfar was peachy to have Serge and Jane's daughter Charlotte (who is the radness) play her mother in the film, can you imagine it? Mind blown. If you like reading stuff, here's a BBC article on the making of the movie that's pretty sweet.

Apparently there's also some kind of alter ego Serge puppet involved in the movie, let's hope that's not as creepy as it sounds.