Synopses & Reviews
Bettina Rheims and Serge Bramly's Rose, c'est Paris is both a photographic monograph and a feature-length film on DVD. This extraordinary work of art, in two different but interlocking and complimentary formats, defies easy categorization. For in this multi-layered opus of poetic symbolism, photographer Bettina Rheims and artist Serge Bramly evoke the City of Light in a completely novel way: this is a Paris of surrealist visions, confused identities, artistic phantoms, unseen manipulation, obsession, fetish, and seething desire.
Equal parts erotica, fashion shoot, art monograph, metaphysical mystery, social and cultural archaeology of the French capital, and neo-noir arthouse film—Rose, c'est Paris is all this and more.
In a surrealistic inversion of the oft-imitated 1954 Parisian photobook by Ed van Elsken, Love On The Left Bank, this mesmerising work is the meandering tale of twin sisters, known only as B and R, and a third principal—the city itself. When R returns to their apartment and learns that B has been abducted following a violent struggle, a dreamlike detective story unfolds in black and white on the streets, in the cafés and cabarets, groceries and museums, usines abondonées, and grands hotels of Paris.
But even this notional plot is submerged under layers of echoes, of references and homages to artists like René Magritte, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, and Man Ray; to the brilliant amorality of the Fantômas pulp novels of the early 20th century and to various mythical sites and monuments of Paris.
What happened to the missing sister? Was there a plot? Was she really kidnapped? Is she alive or dead? Was it murder? Suicide? Or just a nightmare? Or is she now a punk rocker, a prostitute, a cabaret dancer, or possibly even a nun? Did she marry and flee to India? Does R know more than she claims? Or perhaps B has adopted her sister's identity—and it is in fact R who has gone missing...
Rheims and Bramly create a series of extraordinary tableaux suggesting all these possibilities and many more. Featuring a host of extraordinary figures, notably Naomi Campbell, Michelle Yeoh, Monica Bellucci, Charlotte Rampling, Valérie Lemercier, Inès Sastre, Anna Mouglalis, Audrey Marnay, Anthony Delon, Rona Hartner, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Azzedine Alaïa, Louise Bourgoin and Hélèna Noguerra, to family members, fashion models, porn stars and the beautiful people of Paris, Rose, c'est Paris is immediately accessible as a delicious visual treat, a refreshingly original work of erotica, and a celebration of Paris that sidesteps all the usual clichés. And yet the work remains infinitely mysterious in the way it plays with genre and narrative, allusion and expectation. Like the city itself, it can never be fully defined or explained, only experienced again and again.
*Available in a XL-format Collector's Edition of 1,500 copies, each numbered and signed by Bettina Rheims and Serge Bramly. Also available in two Art Editions of 100 copies each, with a signed and numbered original print.
Synopsis
In this multilayered opus of poetic symbolism, photographer Rheims and artist Bramly evoke the City of Light in a completely novel way: this is a Paris of surrealist visions, confused identities, artistic phantoms, unseen manipulation, obsession, fetish and seething desire.
Synopsis
Bettina Rheims and Serge Bramly's Rose, c'est Paris is both a photographic monograph and a feature-length film on DVD. This extraordinary work of art, in two different but interlocking and complimentary formats, defies easy categorization. For in this multi-layered opus of poetic symbolism, photographer Bettina Rheims and artist Serge Bramly evoke the City of Light in a completely novel way: this is a Paris of surrealist visions, confused identities, artistic phantoms, unseen manipulation, obsession, fetish, and seething desire.
*Available in a XL-format Collector's Edition of 1,500 copies, each numbered and signed by Bettina Rheims and Serge Bramly. Also available in two Art Editions of 100 copies each, with a signed and numbered original print.
Synopsis
Surrealist visions, confused identities, obsession, fetish and seething desire
Bettina Rheims and Serge Bramly's Rose, c'est Paris is both a photographic monograph and a feature-length film on DVD. This extraordinary work of art, in two different but interlocking and complementary formats, defies easy categorization. For in this multi-layered opus of poetic symbolism, photographer Bettina Rheims and writer Serge Bramly evoke the City of Light in a completely novel way: this is a Paris of surrealist visions, confused identities, artistic phantoms, unseen manipulation, obsession, fetish, and seething desire.
Equal parts erotica, fashion shoot, art monograph, metaphysical mystery, social and cultural archaeology of the French capital, and neo-noir art-house film—Rose, c'est Paris is the steamy tale of twin sisters, known only as B and Rose, and a third principal—the city itself. An abduction leads to a detective story that unfolds in the streets, cafés, cabarets, museums, abandoned factories, and grand hotels of Paris. What happened to the missing sister? Was there a plot? Was she really kidnapped? Is she alive or dead? Is it in fact a case of mistaken identity? Rheims and Bramly create a series of extraordinary tableaux suggesting all these possibilities and many more, featuring a host of celebrity figures, including Naomi Campbell, Michelle Yeoh, Monica Bellucci, Charlotte Rampling, Valérie Lemercier, Inès Sastre, Anna Mouglalis, Audrey Marnay, Anthony Delon, Rona Hartner, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Azzedine Alaïa, Louise Bourgoin, and Hélèna Noguerra.
About the Author
Serge Bramly is an artist, writer and essayist. He frequently collaborates on artistic and photographic projects with his former wife Bettina Rheims, with whom he has a son, Virgile. His novel La Terreur dans le boudoir (1994) was adapted by Benoît Jacquot for the movie Sade. His nonfiction books include Leonardo: Discovering the Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1991), Leonardo: The Artist and the Man (1995), and Mona Lisa: The Enigma (2005). He was awarded the aclaimed "Prix Interallié" in 2008 for his last novel Le premier principe, le second principe.
Inspired by her passion for art and female portraiture, the French artist Bettina Rheims devoted herself wholly to photography beginning in 1978. In the past three decades she has produced numerous major photographic series, which have been exhibited all over the world. Her books include Female Trouble (1989), Modern Lovers (1990), Chambre Close (1994), I.N.R.I. (1998), X'Mas (2000) Shanghai (2003), Heroïnes (2007), and The Book of Olga (2008 for TASCHEN). In 2007 she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur for her artistic achievement.