Far from the beach, but still surrounded by treasure of all kinds just ready to be found, looked at, gloated over, gleaned and swiped or simply created! Here are my latest finds....
Basilique Notre-Dame-de l'Epine - Chalons en Champagne
Went off for a change of scenery to forget the incessant rain (well that didn't exactly work out to plan, but it did feel like a different type of rain at least) and more importantly to take my mind off a nasty little blight that has plagued our lives for the past two years. The Noisy Neighbour Downstairs...
There are no known cures to this illness, apart from surgical removal, but as that hasn't been an option, we have all had to grin and bear it.
Symptoms in the sufferer include sleepness nights, irritability and intolerance to excess of any form. Attempts to alleviate these vexing manifestations have involved several calls to the police, many letters of complaint to the housing agency and several less-than-neighbourly verbal exchanges... all to no avail!!!
The show must go on, and so it has over the long months... As we've only been here two years, the suffering is minimal compared to that of the other neighbours who have had to endure this for even longer! This ghastly little gargoyle seems to hang over our lives, ready to disrupt the calm at any moment.
The cause of so many frayed nerves and shattered sleep patterns is literally a creature of the night. This being has a typically nocturnal existence, sleeping through most of the day, though can be espied on the terrasses of the local bars from apéritif time, cigarette poised between lips or yellowing fingers, a glass of alcohol at the ready.
As a creature attracted to species demonstrating similar behavioural patterns, he will readily invite fellow night-time beasts back to his smoke-ridden lair before and after visits to his watering holes and associated gathering places.
Unfortunately, this burrow is below ours, so whether we like or not, we end up aware of all the movements, habits and natural instincts of this singularly selfish, unattractive being. Although drawn to social groupings with others of his type, he shows little but disregard and disrespect for any other living creature, although he will try his Gallic 'charm' on any unsuspecting female of any species. He certainly spends enough time banging around in the bathroom, presumably preening and gurning in the mirror.
An apparently innate attachment to alcohol and tobacco has made his appearance raddled and wizened, while his relatively advanced years (60 - ie old enough to know better!) have not bestowed him any wisdom. A quiet evening of reflection would be beyond him - unless perhaps accompanied by his music. The music... no, I won't even go there....
So, it was with disbelief and great excitement that we all learnt that this unusual, yet wholly unwanted specimen was to leave the house that he has dominated over the years. It all seemed too good to be true...
Well, it is true, but is more a case of 'Don't hold your breath'. Having moved out virtually all his possessions from his warren below - mostly during the night - he now can be heard here day and night.
The nocturnal noise of music, loud conversations,stomping shoes on wooden parquet, slammed doors, windows and cupboards is nothing new, but the resonance is amplified in an empty space without furnishings. Apparently this strange creature is currently presenting signs of an impulsive cleaning instinct, which is insatiable. Perhaps this would explain why the beast in question has decided to keep on his empty dwelling place until...... August!!!
So I dedicate the photo above to this animal, whose unendearing lifestyle habits we have been fully exposed to over the past two years, in a very unsymbiotic relationship.
The photo below is to render us calm and collected in order to endure the next two months, and above all, to help me hold back the burning desire to wring that scrawny creature's neck!!!
I trust he will find the neighbours he fully deserves in his future abode... Adieu gargoyle!
Well, it hasn't stopped raining for two days now... While everybody is looking sullen and sun-deprived, everything is looking soggy and everywhere is simply sodden, I try to say to myself what I always used to rattle off to the children when they were small: "It's a great day for ducks"...
After all, everything is very green... But all the things that are normally airborne now look too wet to fly...
Damp dandelion clock
I am beginning to wonder if even our feathered friends can also have just too much of the wet stuff, and perhaps want to escape from it all like the rest of us...
A solitary survivor.
The weather forecast for the next week isn't good, for man or beast alike! The last time I saw real sunshine was a few weeks ago, during a brief trip to England.
Clematis
That should dispel any illusion that the conditions on the Continent are any better than those in Britain - and I'd say that this year the grass is literally very green on both sides of the Channel.
A duck drying out...
However I do also keep coming across the colour purple, or rather shades of lilac... mostly with raindrops... From the elegant irises, the majestic jacaranda trees, dense wisteria draping down walls and trellises and the unassuming lilac bushes....
Jacaranda tree, just outside my place of work...
Many of these smell beautiful, but only if you haven't got your nose, or beak, tucked away from the cold...
Double trouble...
So, all in all, there are still many things to be found and admired, on condition that you have an umbrella and in my case at the moment, a good pair of wellies!
Wisteria
Even the larger birds seem to follow the more humble ones...
A regal swan
Preened plumage, delicated arranged...
Blackthorn (I think)...
Belonging to resident birds or visiting ones...
Canadian goose
The ruffled feathers of some of the birds look a little like petals themselves...
Iris
These all are spread out as the birds cluster together in strange formations...
A pyjama party
The plumage looks so soft that I want to touch it. And the colours so subtle, like some of the foliage and flowers around at present.
Lilac
And then of course you will get those brazen birds who just have no discretion whatsoever, come rain or shine, but just look at those feathers...
As the sunshine is still
making itself rare, I decided to catch a glimpse of another type of invisible
luminosity in Paris yesterday. This was in fact the exhibition Lumière Invisible, currently held at
the Institut du Monde Arabe, not far from my favourite place, Le Jardin des
Plantes.
Just in front of the imposing main I.M.A building is a strange white futuristic
'blob' that houses the exhibits - in this case large metallic sculptures that bring
together painting and three-dimensional constructions and Western and Eastern
culture, aesthetics and art forms. This aim is shared by the institute itself, whose
cultural mission is to enhance the exchange between France and the League of
Arab nations. Designed by Jean Nouvel, the building was inaugurated in 1987,
winning the Aga Khan award for Architecture, and earning the nickname 'the Arab
Beaubourg' in the process, due to adventurous design and features that recall
the ambitious spirit of the Centre Georges Pompidou.
One particularity of the façade
are the photo-sensitive metallic panes behind the glass. These form a geometric
patchwork design that act as an elaborate sun shield, with the central apertures
contracting and dilating according to the intensity of light and heat generated
by the sun.
The depth of the sculpture is revealed by the glow...
Needless to say, these haven't been over-exerted for some time, in
view of the grey skies above! In fact these sophisticated panels are a reference
back to traditional oriel windows, the Mashrabiya
or Shanasheel whose intricate lattice
woodwork, and stained glass offered protection from harsh sunlight.
One of the three light columns...
Lumière Invisible is a collection of seventeen sculptures, the result
of the meeting of minds between the sculptor Mehdi Qotbi, and painter, Yahya. Both artists are of Moroccan descent, yet neither have made these origins their
sole defining cultural reference point, but seem to have used these as a
springboard to reach far beyond.
This large sphere is actually enormous...
Sharing a similar
aesthetic viewpoint, Qotbi and Yahya stress how this art has resulted from
their unusual alliance; two-dimensional art expressed in the three-dimensional. As they say, their constructions belong "neither to the East, nor the
West" but are simply expressions of art, and as such are not confined to
any cultural limitation.
'Bird' motives...
Like the light that plays with the sculptures and pours
over and through their forms, the aesthetics of this union between
painter/sculptor defuse the metal with a unique warmth and life.
The calligraphy and motives form, quite literally, the basis of the
sculptures. However, these are not texts with a specific meaning to be read.
Qotbi, painter inspired by the
traditional calligraphy of Islamic art has used the intricate arabesque forms
to explore beyond the sense of the words and signs in order to create an
abstract language of decorative art.
The forms that I thought looked like
little birds, in a kaleidoscope design, could in fact be no more than that or perhaps
far more. These forms have no particular linguistic mission, but this means
that the sculptures can 'speak'. to us more openly. None of the works on display
were given titles, so the pieces were not fixed representations, nor were they
confined to a specific interpretation set by their authors. Yahya the sculptor does
not actually speak Arabic, but this has not restricted him in his art; on the
contrary.
Born in the UK to a
Jewish Moroccan father and Christian Anglo- German mother, converting to Islam
as an adult, Yahya has not been bound by. nationality, religion or culture. Through
his work, he transcends barriers and transmits the message that art brings
people together, leading them beyond themselves, as a guiding light, to the
absolute. Inspired by the play of light on metal and glass that he saw in art
work in Morocco, he has explored the potential of metalwork in all its forms.
Qotbi
follows the same theme, as he talks of the light within us all, a form of
wisdom to which we must aspire and communicate to others. This vital luminosity
glows inside us, yet its source remains invisible. The pieces of Lumière Invisible interlace the work of
sculptor and painter, but also called on the skills of many other craftsmen,
who from steel, brass, bronze and copper drew a light, luminous art over a period of six years. There was
no explanation to the material realisation of the works, but this reinforced
their magic.
The sculptures are suspended on walls, or appear to float in front
of us, like spun metal, embroidered lettering and tracery, delicate and massive
at the same time.
I felt the same sense of puzzlement as I did when eating a
Cadbury's Flake as a child - how exactly did they make this ruffled chocolate?
How
was the metal cut in such depth? How was it soldered together, and shaped?
Well, it's raining again
today, it literally hasn't stopped - invisible light, indeed!!! Everything is very green however...
A "ribbon
of dreams" was the description Jacques Demy made of his work; reels of
film filled with fantasy, fate, flashbacks to youth and fairytale. Whereas his
first films were in sober black and white, trademark of the French New Wave
cinematic style, the musical outbursts marked these as works "en-chantés" - a play on words
meaning both enchanting and literally
sung.
This magical quality was
further enhanced by Demy's incredible later use of brilliant colour so that
each scene, however mundane, bursts from the screen in technicolour vibrancy.
Tones of colour were set to contrast, clash and complement each other in order
to create a universe that seems to vibrate with life and further stimulate our
senses. This strange tension is continued by the bizarre contradictions in
content and chronological context and subtle cinematic references which are
thread through Demy's work.
Perhaps
the two most famous, or easily cited films from Jacques Demy's early career are
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
(1967). Both of these works star Catherine Deneuve, whose talent had already
been recognized by Roger Vadim, and would soon be confirmed by her work with
Roman Polanski and Luis Buñuel. However, both Demy films were very far removed
from the dark, oppressive worlds portrayed by these other directors. In a style
reminiscent of that of the heyday of technicolour Hollywood musicals we see
Catherine Deneuve singing and dancing in Les
Parapluies and alongside her sister, Françoise Dorléac, in Les Demoiselles.
I remember watching Les Parapluies when I was supposed to be
revising for 'O' Level French, and
having great trouble trying to make out anything!
However,
my favourite Jacques Demy film, again featuring his fetish actress Catherine
Deneuve, is the later film, Peau d'Ane
(1970). Here all the Demy traits are woven together to create a work unlike any
other; a fairytale that truly is a ribbon of dreams.
Peau d'Ane was
produced by Demy after an extended stay in the US during the 1960's where he
was influenced by the colourful popular culture. In homage to his homeland with
its rich culture, folklore and history in general, Demy set about creating a
unique interpretation of the well-known Charles Perrault (1628-1703) fairytale Peau d'Ane - The Magic Donkey. As all
such tales, there is a dark psychological undertone running through the story,
supposedly preparing children for the harsher realities of life, or warning them
of the need to conform to certain norms, against all adversity. Peau d'Ane is no different with its
message that you must create your own fate, and not give in to the dictates of
others, despite the lure of security, inappropriate love, or great wealth. In
this fairytale, the unsettling theme is that of the incestuous love of a
widowed king for his own daughter, blind in his determination to marry her.
Demy added bizarre notes to his interpretation that made it all the more
disconcerting.
Indeed, this dark, heavy subject is run through in luminous,
vivid backdrops and set to a light, whimsical musical score. Apparently Jacques
Demy had initially considered using Brigitte Bardot and Anthony Perkins (of Psycho fame) for the keys roles of Peau
d'Ane and her Prince Charming. This would surely have given an extra element of
unease to the film, but even without, the film has a beautiful 'weirdness' on
every level which makes it timeless.
With
its once-upon-a-time style of opening, the film begins as the pages of the
weighty tome of fairy tales turn in front of us. And so do the strange
tensions. The delicate opening score, written by Michel Legrand, creates a
lyrical magic that seems to descend as it progresses, jumping down from one
octave to another. This will be the theme to the main song, Amour, amour sung by Catherine Deneuve
and proves to be almost impossible to get out of your mind after watching the
film, but virtually impossible to sing correctly, with or without the lyrics!
Amour,
amour
L'amour se porte autour du cou, le coeur est fou.
Quatre bras serrés qui s'enchaînent, l'âme sereine.
Comme un foulard de blanche laine,
L'amour s'enroule et puis se noue. Amour, amour, m'a rendu fou.
L'amour fait
souvent grand tapage au plus bel âge.
Il crie, il déchire et il ment, pauvre serment. Il fait souffrir tous les amants
Qui n'ont pas su tourner la page.
Amour, amour, n'est pas bien sage.
Quand il a vécu
trop longtemps le coeur content
L'amour à la moindre anicroche s'effiloche,
Au clou du souvenir s'accroche.
L'amour se meurt avec le temps.
Amour, amour, je t'aime tant.
Amour, amour, je t'aime tant...
Any excuse to use this photo - I love the colours of the anemones...
Within
the beautiful castle, this uneasy mood continues as nature invades as ivy grows
to form wild fairytale canopies and hangings in the living spaces. Indeed, some
inanimate objects come to life, as in the animate statues which are used in
homage to LaBelle et La Bête (1946) by Jean Cocteau and a huge throne in the
shape of a white cat! Outside the castle, nature too is tainted with the fairytale
universe as the royal steeds are of vermillion red, servants are blue, pet deer
strut around, while peacocks parade and parrots serenade in their squawking
manner.
Well, there were actually anemones on the film poster...
More importantly, the castle possesses a donkey that produces jewels
and gold in place of dung! Unfortunately the harmony of this enchanted realm is
about to be broken on the death of the queen, setting in motion the sequence of
events that leads to the emergence of Peau d'Ane, the eventual death of the
donkey, deprived of its skin, and the financial ruin of the king, relieved of
his money-making means!
The donkey skin
Like
the death of the mother in Snow White,
the queen's demise leaves a father vulnerable to unnatural instincts. On her
deathbed, the queen makes the king swear that he will carry out her final wish;
that he should marry another, even more beautiful and worthy than her own self.
With impressive utterances of the impossibility of finding another spouse more
precious than his late wife, the king refuses to respect his promise. However,
practicalities such as the need for an heir to the throne and the gnawing
desire for conjugal union quickly make the king reconsider. Having decided to
take action, the king sets about his duty with great flamboyance and gusto.
Jean Marais (main actor in Cocteau's La
Belle et La Bête) interprets the king in such a manner that the grotesque
irony of the situation seems comic, yet human. Nothing can open his eyes to the
inappropriateness of his mission and nothing or no one must stand in his way.
However, he had underestimated the grudges women bear, above all in fairy tales,
and had overestimated his ability to find a women to meet his criteria. None seem
to satisfy his demands, apart from his own daughter, that is...
Rightly
horrified by her father's desire for marriage, the princess seeks council from
the good fairy, La Fée Lilas and
takes refuge in the enchanted woods. La Fée Lilas (Delphine Seyrig) benefits
from the customary fairy attributes; namely an ability to fly and the
possession of a magic wand. However, this fairy has little in common with the
usual staid, matronly types that offer comfort in classic tales! La Fée Lilas
has clearly already had amourous dealings with the king "une histoire ancienne" at some
moment in the past, and has not forgotten the fact or forgiven the king. She is
now willing to use her magic powers and feminine wiles to 'get the king back',
in every sense of the term. She endeavours to help the princess thwart the
father's advances ("On n'épouse
jamais ses parents")! In so doing, she also wishes distance a
potential rival so that she can later claim the king for herself! The film
plays with this twist to Jung's Electra Complex as daughter and fairy godmother
focus on the father's attentions.
A dress the colour of weather
La
Fée Lilas obligingly sets a series of challenges to scupper the king's marriage
scheme and free the princess from her filial 'obligation'. As a nuptial gift ,
the king is told that he must present the princess with a dress which
symbolizes the weather in order to satisfy her feminine whims before any marriage
can take place.
Both the princess and her fairy godmother are stunned at the
beauty of the garment that the king's tailors produce, and are equally troubled
at the realisation that the king has overcome the obstacle.
Undeterred, La Fee
Lilas quickly tells the princess to order a far more challenging dress from the
king; a dress the colour of the moon.
While most fairytale princesses would continue
to shun the advances of their father, Jacques Demy's princess seems ready to
give in to the fatality of the situation, without offering a great deal of
resistance. She appears to be won over by her father's love, however improper
that may be, and as a dutiful daughter she is eager to fulfill her new filial
duty; marriage.
A dress the colour of the moon.
Fortunately even with the arrival of an even more dazzling
gown, the fairy does not abandon her charge, and the princess is duly told to
demand a dress the colour of the sun. When this task is accomplished to
perfection, both women realise that they must demand the ultimate sacrifice
from the father. The king must indeed be stripped of his magic source of income
as the royal donkey is stripped of its hide - la peau d'âne - in order to present it as a final pre-nuptial
offering to the princess.
Once
the king carries out this request, the princess flees the castle on the advice
of the fairy, disguised as a slovenly wretch, dressed in the donkey skin.
Finding work as a farm hand, Peau d'Ane lives in a dirty hut, far away from
prying eyes and above all far from the unwanted attentions of her father.
Despite
the squalor of her living conditions, the princess benefits from the magic
touch of her fairy godmother, whose wand transforms the drab and filthy to
gold. Yet she still despairs of her situation, and dreams of a Prince Charming
to sweep her off her feet and away from her humiliation. Glimmers of the
princess' s radiance shine through Peau d'Ane's tawdry, tattered appearance and
manage to mesmerize a Prince Charming who is magically drawn to the hovel
amongst the trees.
The bust of a dress the colour of the sun.
Unable to encounter this enchanting figure, mysteriously
hidden away, Prince Charming returns to his palace, love-sick and bed-bound. As
a remedy to his ailment, his worried parents send an order to Peau d'Ane to
cook the prince a dish to cure him of his malady. The resulting cake d'amour is delivered and devoured with
great relish and while not cured of his love-sickness the prince is overjoyed
to find Peau d'Ane's gold ring inside the mixture.
The dress the colour of the sun.
Like Cinderella's glass shoe,
Peau d'Ane's ring can only fit its rightful owner, and Prince Charming must
scour the kingdom to find out the true identity of his love. A long succession
of aspiring women present themselves at the palace, all desperate to procure
the ring and in so doing secure marriage to the prince. Needless to say, their
hopes are dashed. Naturally, in true fairytale fashion, when Peau d'Ane is
finally summoned, the golden ring slips on, the animal shroud slips off and
Prince Charming meets his princess at last.
This arrangement seems to suit all
concerned, not least the king who, having abandoned his mission to enter into
wedlock with his own daughter, has decided to marry a very contented Fée Lilas.
Quickly moving onto his new love interest without so much as a backwards glance,
the king resumes a more palatable paternal role. La Fée Lilas, proud of her
conquest like a cat who has got the cream, simply cannot resist making a snide
remark to the princess who has just heard of her father's union "Tâchez de faire bonne figure!"
("At least make an effort to look pleased..."). And so the story comes
to an end as the fairytale book closes once more...
So
far, so fairytale, but Jacques Demy's version wields a far greater hold on its
audience than the traditional screen conte
de fée adaptation. Peau d'Ane still
continues to fascinate decades after its creation, and details catch our
attention, or suddenly reveal themselves even after numerous viewings. The film's
cinematic effects (dating back to the beginning of the 70's) look quaint and
'clunky' compared to today's flawless yet dull computer-generated images, but
this just adds to the magic. The overall effect, faults and all, seems to be
richer and more beautiful than the insipid perfection we find nowadays. Perhaps
that is partly down to the ironic touches, and knowing winks to the audience
which play the past against the present day.
With La Fée Lilas' slow-motion
flight, created by reverse shots Jacques Demy refers back to the classic film La Belle et La Bête, but at other
moments he slips in modern anachronistic elements that have strictly no place
in any fairy tale! While on the one hand we have a traditional old wretch who repeatedly
spits out toads as she speaks and then an enchanting rose that converses with
Prince Charming, we also have a fairy who complains about the batteries going
flat in her magic wand, a modern-day telephone lurking in the undergrowth and a
king who arrives at a wedding celebration by helicopter! The appearance of such
sophisticated technology was perhaps intended as yet another play of references
since the king, played by actor Jean Marais, was obliged to leave the set each
day by aeroplane in order to act in the Palais-Royal in Paris.
The use of the
châteaux of Chambord and Plessis-Bouré also mixed past and present, reality and
make-believe since most of the audience would have visited at least one chateau
from the Loire valley. Jim Morrison actually turned up to watch the filming at
one stage, and can be seen walking around, surrounded by an exotic procession
of animals, fairy-tale royalty and the actors themselves. The iconic French
comic actor Coluche can even be seen
as one of the boisterous peasants in the film, at the beginning of his
cinematic career...
However,
for me at least, the best aspects of Peau d'Ane have to be the costumes and
songs. When I saw that the princess's three dresses, the colour of the weather,
the sun and the moon were on show as part of an exhibition devoted to Jacques
Demy's art in La Cinémathèque Française in Paris I was thrilled! The whole
exhibition was interesting, but the costumes and stage props drew me in the
most...
Ladybird Cinderella - First ballgown
I used to love looking at the three ballgowns worn by Cinderella in my Ladybird book when I was little. I could never decide which one was the most beautiful - they all seemed equally stunning. Looking at the same pictures today just doesn't revive the same sense of marvel, although that's probably to be expected, all things considered. However the Peau d'Ane costumes bring that feeling of magic back, as an adult!
Cinderella - Second ballgown
The
dresses exhibited were of course magical - shown off in all their splendour by the
lighting and a rotating display that made the gold and silver needlework and rich,
jewel-encrusted taffeta sparkle and shine. Catherine Deneuve is said to have
remarked on the weight and sheer volume of the garments which made them
difficult to wear and must have hampered any movement.
Final ballgown
While the glorious
dresses were cumbersome, the princess appears to float around weightlessly and
effortlessly, even making the cake
d'amour without soiling her voluminous sleeves! Apparently the most
uncomfortable costume of all was the donkey skin, made of veritable hide, and
above all the donkey's head itself which was especially heavy. So the princess
really did suffer as Peau d'Ane...
The other costumes are equally magical, yet
with a strange, exaggerated quality and quaintness, that give them a surreal
effect. The bal masqué with the guests
at the castle dressed up as cats and birds is beautiful and the wedding
ceremony procession crowns the end of the film...
I
haven't actually followed the recipe for the cake d'amour, but it could be
worth a try...
Recette pour un cake d'amour
Préparez votre
Préparez votre pâte Dans une jatte,
Dans une jatte plate
Et sans plus de discours, allumez votre
Allumez votre four.
Prenez de la
Prenez de la farine
Versez dans la
Versez dans la terrine
Quatre mains bien pesées autour d'un puits creu-
Autour d'un puits creusé.
Choisissez quatre
Choisissez quatre oeufs frais
Qu'ils soient du ma-
Qu'ils soient du matin frais
Car à plus de vingt jours, un poussin sort tou- Un poussin sort toujours.
Un bol entier
Un bol entier de lait Bien crémeux s'il-
Bien crémeux s'il-vous-plaît.
De sucre parsemez et vous amalga-
Et vous amalgamez. Une main de
Une main de beurre fin.
Un souffle de
Un souffle de levain. Une larme de miel et un soupçon de
Et un soupçon de sel.
Il est temps à Il est temps à présent, Tandis que vous
Tandis que vous brassez De glisser un présent pour votre fian-
Pour votre fiancé. Un souhait d'a-
Un souhait d'amour s'impose
Tandis que la
Que la pâte repose.
Graissez la plat de beurre et laissez cuire une El laissez cuire une heure.
