«Peter Lindbergh - Women's Stories»2 reading minutes

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

An artistic documentary film for an artist. It makes sense. The immense fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who as a teenager dreamed of being Van Gogh, has the biography he deserves. Highly discursive, elaborate in its images, dizzying, sensual, sleep-inducing - I paid the price by falling asleep for part of the film, but that's another story - the film offers its viewer a pleasant escape. But somewhat disappointing.

Not because it lacks aesthetics, but rather because it lacks panache, virulence and passion. And universality! Unfortunately, the film's construction boils down a little too much to the portrait of a portraitist, whereas it would have greatly benefited from speaking more to each and every one of us. All the more so as Peter Lindbergh is not the type to inspire blandness or softness. For God's sake, he's a madman, an adventurer, an artist!

Born in Lezno, Poland, Lindbergh was the son of a strict, cold mother and a soldier father and convinced Nazi. After adventures and misadventures, sexual adventures with many women, misadventures with many sharks of the art world, the photographer traveled, drank, sweated, worked, slept, loved, cheated, left, took up again, left, came back: in short, he lived well. Yet this fulgurance doesn't really shine through in the film.

Perhaps because the title indicates that these are women's stories? Yes, but the problem is that when it comes to these women's stories, only their bodies are exposed. No, contrary to what critics obsessed with a feminism that should be omnipresent would have us believe, the documentary doesn't give a damn about the story of the five women whom Lindbergh brought to the limelight with a cover of the Vogue British, namely: Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington.

Another essential aspect of Jean-Michel Vecchiet's work is his exploitation of fashion. He manages to show just how much fashion is an art form, and how much it is based on the history of art, particularly fashion photography and commercials. It's all about creation, the play of light, meticulous set design and the interpretation of the models, who become true artists. What's more, Lindbergh's genius lies in his ability to tell a story, to convey a narrative moment through a body, a face, a woman's gaze in a photograph. Despite the nap I took, I won't forget it.

Write to the author: loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © DCM Film Distribution / Peter Lindbergh