Marilyn Monroe @ La Cinémathèque française
A date with Marilyn Monroe at La Cinémathèque française to celebrate her 100th birthday (1926 - 2026) during a heavy parisian heatwave days?
Bad idea, sure.
But somehow it fits.
I guess some folks really like it hot.
Marilyn steam medley (Some Like It Hot / 7 Years Inch / Love Happy)
It was booked a long time ago so I went anyway and I'm glad I did.
Because this exhibition tried really hard to avoid all the "print the legend" noise that usually blurs what we know about Marilyn. All the usual suspects (kissing Hitler, the Chanel bit, the bourbon lines, the loneliness of a woman loved by millions, the Kennedy affair, etc) are out.
Good idea.
It allows Florence Tissot, the curator, and her team to take time on what might be boring biographical and historical stuff for anyone else but is really interesting here. Among other things, I can remember:
- what's a pin-up?
- how did the studio system look at a woman? How did it reshape her?
- did she actually play a role on screen? If so, how good was she really?
- does the symbol she became informs us about who she was? Or about the changes of the era she lived in?
The curation team even dares leaving us with unanswered questions (why the picture with Ella Fitzgerald didn't make that much noise in those times?).
This exhibition is a bold one.
They could have sold us the usual glam & drama. Easy and cheap. The chose to tell us the story of a woman, the fine actress she became and the world she lived in.
On a side note, I happened to be in London for a few days last week, and a book in the BFI shop caught my eye (both the title and the familiar name of the author that must drive crazy any french cinema lover). Has anyone read it? How good is it?
