Tag Archives: France

RIP Jean-Louis Trintignant (1930 – 2022)

Jean-Louis Trintignant was a French actor who worked with all European art house directors between the 1950s and the 2000s. He is known for his economic acting.

Here he is in  My Night at Maud’s (1969):

 My Night at Maud’s (1969), trailer

BDSM-wise (let’s, shall we?) two films come to mind.

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RIP Thierry Mugler (1948 – 2022)

Thierry Mugler was a French fashion designer known for his avant-garde, architectural, hyperfeminine and theatrical approach to haute couture.

Best of Mugler

My personal connection to Mugler is me seeing his photos (or was it one photo?) taken at the Tafraout site with the rocks painted by Jean Vérame. This was at the Animism exhibion at the MuKHA in 2010.

That photo can be seen in Thierry Mugler, Photographer (1988) by Thierry Mugler.

RIP François Leterrier (1929 – 2020)

François Leterrier was a French film director and actor. He entered the film industry when he was cast in Robert Bresson’s film A Man Escaped (1956).

Slices of Life (1985), full film
Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977), side one of the album

Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977) features a reggae-inspired soundtrack by Serge Gainsbourg.

“Paris sera toujours Paris” segment from  Slices of Life (1985)

His sketch film Slices of Life (1985) is a bit silly but features the prescient and good-hearted “Paris sera toujours Paris” which is an illustration of the Great Replacement theory.

RIP Bernard Stiegler (1952 – 2020)

Bernard Stiegler was a French philosopher known for his reflections on technology.

Outside the field of philosophy, he is of interest for his delightful retelling of the Epimetheus creation myth from Protagoras told in the film The Ister (2004).

Bernard Stiegler retelling the creation myth of Protagoras in The Ister (2004)

The transcript of that story (above):

‘One day Zeus said to Prometheus, “the time has come for you, for us gods, to bring into the day the non-immortals.” The non-immortals being animals and men. Prometheus, who is put in charge of this task, has a twin brother named Epimetheus. Epimetheus resembles Prometheus; he is his double. But in fact Epimetheus is his brother’s opposite. Epimetheus is the god of the fault of forgetting. Prometheus is a figure of knowledge, of absolute mastery, total memory. Prometheus forgets nothing, Epimetheus forgets everything. Epimetheus says to his brother: “Zeus has given you this task – I want to do it! Me me me! I’ll take care of it.” Epimetheus is a rather simple-minded brother, and Prometheus is fond of him. He dares not refuse and says, “OK, you take care of it.” So Epimetheus distributes the qualities. He will give the gazelle its speed, for example. […] He distributes the qualities in equilibrium. Epimetheus’ distribution of the qualities describes the ecological balance of nature. […] Now, as Epimetheus is distributing the qualities, he suddenly notices something… […] “There are no qualities left! I forgot to save a quality for man!” […] “I still have to bring mankind, mortals, into the day.” […] but there are no qualities left to give him a form. So Prometheus goes to the workshop of the god Hephaestus, to steal fire. Fire, which is obviously the symbol of technics, but which is also the symbol of the power of god. Zeus.’–Bernard Stiegler retelling the creation myth of Protagoras in The Ister (2004)