#jean rousel

[myvinylplaylist]

Cat Stevens: Catch Bull At Four (1972)

A&M Records

[superpcsitions]

@wilderviolets​ !

     IT DOESN’T HELP their case that some may think that thea and arlo are sleeping together. to be fair, they sometimes are— but it’s sleeping, and that’s it. okay, he’s seen her naked, too. and now they’re both in the women’s bathroom at eleutherios and thea’s adding just a touch of makeup to his face because arlo has never been one to say no to much of anything. he’s sitting on the counter, donned in a white sleeveless blouse he found at the bed and breakfast, along with a pair of white jeans that he actually owned and white sneakers. his hair’s left curly and a bit unruly but it seems to be working in his favor tonight, which surely must be a blessing from the gods. and speaking of gods, arlo’s dressed as an angel, with his fake feathered wings hanging from two straps on his shoulders.

“what is this you’re applying?” arlo asks as he opens one eye to look at the product in her hand. she’s already used a bit of powder on his face, supposedly to help sweat or something, and now she’s got a lighter, glittery container of powder between delicate fingers. he runs a hand through his hair as he stares down at it. “where does that go?” 

as open-minded as arlo rouselle is, he’s pretty clueless when it comes to makeup. he closes his eyes, unsure if he even needs to but it feels right nonetheless. “i wanna look good, thea.” and there it is: it’s not often that arlo’s vulnerable and honest, much less is he outwardly insecure. and he’s not about to go into it— he’s not about to say that his heart has been aching in secrecy for much too long and he’s kind of dying to talk about it, as if it’ll clear of itself if arlo releases the words out into the world to live elsewhere. he cocks his head to the side, reaches his feet out as his legs dangle from the side of the counter and he wraps them around thea’s waist. he grins. “make me look good. please.”

[glenngaylord]

Crash! Boom! Bang! - Film Review: Titane ★★★★1/2

For me, good art is pretty, but great art is confrontational, forcing the viewer to reflect upon the human condition and reveal truths, however inspiring or ugly. The 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Titane, writer/director Julia Ducournau’s sophomore effort, definitely veers towards the latter type of confrontation. With enough brutal violence to fill all of the Halloween sequels combined, this viscerally charged film will likely polarize audiences, but its vision and power cannot be denied.

A highly visual, almost wordless film, Titane begins with Alexia, a young, androgynous girl, pestering her father by kicking the back of his driver’s seat. Annoyed, he turns to scold her, swerving off the road and injuring his daughter. Saved by a titanium implant in her head, we next see Alexia as a young adult (phenomenally played by Agathe Rouselle), in a scene highly reminiscent of the opening single shot from Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale, strutting toward her job as a dancer at an Auto Show. With punk rock aggressiveness, she forces her way through the crowd and ends up gyrating on the hood of  car. A combination of antisocial, disturbed, or just not having the time of day for anyone else’s problems, Alexia, in a series of horrifically bloody scenes, establishes herself as a relentless serial killer, gets impregnated by a car (not a typo!), and uses a chopstick for all the wrong reasons. She seduces men and women alike while never cracking a smile or exhibiting an ounce of joy. You may not like this feminist anti-hero, but you won’t ever forget her.

I wouldn’t blame you for walking out at this point, as it’s not for the delicate stomach, but if you stay, you’ll be richly rewarded with this decidedly queer body horror thriller. Disguising herself as a young man to evade police capture, Alexia eventually gets taken in by a lonely fire captain named Vincent (Vincent London). This hulking, muscular, man believes Alexia to be his long-missing son, causing Alexia to use binding cloth to hide her breasts and expanding belly.  Vincent has troubles of his own as he’s often seen injecting himself with an unnamed substance which could possible be steroids or heroin. The bond the pair forms proves surprisingly touching, especially in a scene involving CPR and the song, “Macarena”. Where all this leads may not surprise you, but it manages to land in that no man’s land between beauty and dread.

Besides De Palma, it’s easy to spot Ducournau’s other influences such as Gasper Noé’s Irreversible, David Cronenberg’s Crash, and Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue. I also couldn’t help but see the link between the film and Jonathan Glazer’s hypnotic Under The Skin, both involving otherworldly women on killing sprees. Her muscular, in your face style has that 80s punk aesthetic, forcing you to slam against the back of your seat with its non-stop drive and cover your eyes half the time. Aided immensely by cinematographer Ruben Impens, Ducournau has a style of her own, simultaneously over-the-top and bleak and keyed in tight to the emotional cores of her lead actors. Inspirations be damned, Ducournau has a singularly driving yet tender cinematic voice.

Titane is a film about trauma, anger, human bonds, gender identity, and the ability for even the most troubled among us to tap into their humanity. It’s a work of art in its assaultive, unforgettable, confrontational way.

[theartinstitute]

[Artist of the week] - Marie-Denise Villers

Marie-Denise Lemoine was born in Paris to Charles Lemoine and Marie-Anne Rouselle. Two of her three sisters, Marie-Victoire Lemoine (1754-1820) and Marie-Élisabeth Gabiou (1755-1812), as well a distant cousin Jeanne-Élisabeth Chaudet (1767–1832), were all trained as portraitists.

In 1794, she married an architecture student, Michel-Jean-Maximilien Villers. Her husband supported her art, during a time when many women were forced to give up professional art work after marriage.

She first exhibited artwork at the Paris Salon of the Year VII (1799). Villers' most famous painting, Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1801) has been attributed to various artists and under a variety of titles through its long history.

Villers exhibited Study of a young woman sitting on a window and two other works at the Salon of 1801, followed in 1802 by a genre painting entitled A child in its cradle and A Study of a Woman from Nature. Her last known work is a portrait of the Duchess of Angoulême, exhibited in 1814.

To find out more about the artists of the 19th century enrol in the Art Appreciation Course, find out more: http://www.the-art-institute.com/landing