Friday, October 15, 2010

Week's End - La Chanteuse in Black & White




Juliette Gréco, legendary bohemian queen of chanson française. Resisting urge to whine & complain because I just remembered that Juliette was in la Résistance with a capital 'R' & paid for it, too. This is the song that Carey Mulligan plays & sings to in An Education. When I saw it last year I couldn't believe it--I knew most of the words. Ah, because Mireille Mathieu's version played a lot when I lived in Strasbourg. Good old Jacques Brel.

Have a great weekend. I do hope someone will pay tribute to Oscar Wilde's natal day tomorrow. (Update - Carina in Copenhagen has an Oscar birthday post. Thanks, Carina!) Just not up to it this year. I'd let him down with some piffle. Oooh. I'm complaining again. Désolé.

(photographs by Gjon Mili via LIFE archives & art (dot) com. The photo with the yawning--or singing--dachsie also turned up on poetic & chic under 'bang envy'. It's a pretty blog & has lots more photographs.)

11 comments:

Julie@beingRUBY said...

Beautiful images Susan
I saw An Education recently and loved it.. Haven't really seen too many good movies lately so it was a lovely surprise..

Actually I watched Kundun again the other night.. and cried [again] from start to finish.. just something about that movie.. and the Dalai Lama that touches my soul..

So.. still trying to win Lotto too... we'll get there I know!! hehehehe.. xxx Julie

simon said...

Jacques Brel- I do a GREAT Brel..... to the point where my french friends are in stitches if I leave a message..Ne me quitte pas... always left with a sound as if I had drunk one too many whiskeys and one too many gaullouise! ahahahaah! ;o)

Anyway- snowing here and my 60 foot turpentine tree has split from top to bottom and could fall over smashing the house if these winds keep up.... ( sigh..)

Emily said...

I've just discovered your blog via Mary-Laure's. Juliette Gréco was my idol growing up; she's the reason I dyed my hair black, wore clothes of the same colour and put on thick eyeliner. I so admire her because of her strong personality, distinctive looks and wonderful voice. An Education and now this post brought that back to me. Around 10 years ago, I saw her in concert and remember her singing Brel's J'arrive and screaming those words into the night.

Giulia said...

Julie--I sent you an email, but wanted to acknowledge your comment. I was so happy about An Education that I called or emailed nearly everyone I knew: "See this film. That darling girl is something else." And of course, Molina, et al. I highly recommend the DVD extras--I knew next to nothing about the wonderful Danish director.

Simon--I'd probably pay to see this. You do realize that you've set yourself up to have someone make a video of you doing your act, eh? Oh yes, darling. (Sorry about the apocalyptic weather. Egad. Brings to mind our winter of hell 2009/2010.)

Vanessa--Oh how wonderful to hear how inspired you were. I too dyed my hair black in the late 90s (it's back to regular red/brown now) but not for such a fab reason. If only I'd thought to defend my (somewhat indefensible) reason via Juliette.

That's fantastic to hear about the concert. Putting together a French playlist. Perhaps I should ask recommendations of everyone. I have my favorites but then someone mentions something else & I think, oh yes. (Or oh no, I don't know that one.)

I must run out to the market (it is Oscar Wilde's birthday after all...some treat is in order:) but I will absolutely take the time to put on my eyeliner. (I'll be over to visit soon.)

The Clever Pup said...

What's up puddleduck? I'm home now.

Ms. P and C said...

Merci for the mention! Definitely looking forward to digging into your blog and becoming a fan!

Hope you come back to P&C again too. The "bang envy" series seems to be quite popular. I love your post of Anouk Aimee too - she's one of my favorites too! I wrote a post about how I have a huge crush on her a while back - especially in "Un homme et une femme"...

Thanks again!
-Annie

lettuce said...

oh this is so stylish.


hope you are having a good weekend

Giulia said...

Hazel (aka Pup) - Welcome back from Paris. Your photographs are super & I'm looking forward to reading your travel notebook. xo

Annie--I'll definitely be back to Poetic & Chic. (I already have been.) In my current state of disrepair, at least there's something someone would envy (or really, admire, perhaps, though it's not a character virtue:) about me: my bangs. I had no idea that this was such an issue but I've seen a lot of that in the last year or so. Anouk is very cool in that film...excellent clothes, too.

Letty--isn't it? And it's so simple, too. I always tell friends that it's an inexpensive look for reason. Real bohemians didn't (don't) have very much money. But Juliette looks like the proverbial million bucks. (BTW, I'm starting Made4Aid Monday posts again.)

Cheers all.

simon said...

right! when I feel up to it there will be a Brel on its way ! ahahah! tree is still standing but is sadly going to me removed.

Giulia said...

The camera is ready for your close-up Mr. Simon. Mwhahahaha.

secretfragileskies said...

Beautiful. Thanks for posting. Love this and "An Education."