April 19, 2021
Director Jim Jarmusch and Anthony Vaccarello, the creative director for Saint Laurent, discuss French Water, a new short film collaboration—starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Indya Moore, Julianne Moore, Chloë Sevigny, and Leo Reilly—in this interview with the Quarterly’s Wyatt Allgeier.
Wyatt AllgeierI’ve watched the film multiple times now, and each viewing provides more—it’s a generous experience. Before getting into details, I’m curious how this collaboration came about. Anthony, could you speak to the genesis of the project?
Anthony VaccarelloSince joining Saint Laurent, I’ve been keen to strengthen the relationship between fashion and cinema. For me, Saint Laurent is a house of cinema, of fantasy.
After working with Gaspar Noé and Wong Kar Wai, I wanted to work with an American film director. Jim was the obvious choice to me. I asked him what Saint Laurent meant to him and he mentioned this idea of a dialogue inspired by 1930s French movies. I liked the idea, but wanted to flesh this out so the film was also about women today.
WAJim, once you agreed to sign on, what were the initial steps? Did you begin with a script, casting, the clothes, the location, or some other element?
Jim JarmuschWell, Anthony suggested that I rewatch Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour (1967), reminding me that Yves Saint Laurent had designed the remarkable clothes worn by Catherine Deneuve. Then Anthony sent a file of the clothes—fantastic. So I wrote a few little scripts just based on variations, and the form of the “ronde” (à la Max Ophüls’s film from 1950). Then came the location, and visual ideas were exchanged with Fred Elmes [cinematographer], Mark Friedberg [production designer], and Carter Logan [producer]. Throughout the process, I would text ideas to Anthony for feedback.
WAThe cast is incredible! Legends and wonderful young actors, both. How did the casting process develop?
AVCharlotte Gainsbourg embodies French mystery—a complex woman that we don’t always understand and all the better for that. Charlotte, Julianne, Indya, and Chloë are Saint Laurent in the way they lead their lives. They are independent, with a strong and personal sense of style. I have known Chloë and Julianne since forever, and I discovered Indya more recently. The sulfurous side in them attracts me.
WARight from the beginning, the soundtrack for the video makes a beautiful impression. Could you tell us more about the choices made?
JJNoveller [a solo project of the guitarist Sarah Lipstate] is a musician I’ve followed for some years now. In some ways I see her as a landscape painter, creating dreamlike atmospheres with an electric guitar, loops, layers, and effects. I’ve seen her perform live a number of times. She puts me in an altered state. And the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the brainchild of Anton Newcombe, is a favorite of mine. We used a well-known BJM track, but Anton never stops creating new, mind-bending music.
The project was selfishly born from a deep desire to collaborate with the geniuses of the cinema industry. I have the chance to have access to amazing directors through Saint Laurent and I am not holding back!
Anthony Vaccarello
WAIf you don’t mind giving away some of the mystery, I’m curious to hear about the location—it is marvelous architecturally, and the carpet is fantastic.
JJThe location is an unusual multilevel party space called Guastavino’s, located on East 59th Street in Manhattan, right under the bridge. Years ago Bill Murray told me about it, and about some wild parties there in previous decades, but I’d never been inside. Mark Friedberg suggested it, and we were able to shoot there because nobody, obviously, was throwing big parties during the pandemic. Yeah, the trippy carpet interested me, and it influenced color and lighting choices.
WAWe have to talk about the clothing; each of the characters feels so clearly defined through the fashion—how did you two collaborate on this aspect of the project? Did the actors themselves have some say? They are so quintessentially themselves, but with a hint of the uncanny.
AVIt was all done in very free and spontaneous way. Very selfishly again, and instinctively, too. Of course, the idea was to dress these characters, but there weren’t any particular demands regarding how they should be filmed wearing these clothes. Clothes play a role in the film, of course, but they don’t overcome the characters. It’s a short movie, not a fashion movie.
JJInitially Anthony sent about fifty images for the selection—it was impressive. I did have some favorites, but they were all so cool. Once the cast was finalized, it was really Anthony selecting several looks for and with each actor. I built into the script the idea that their clothes would change several times, “haphazardly.”
WAI loved the wink to our present condition at the end, when Chloë, Julianne, and Indya put on their face masks before leaving the building. Was this built into the script, or was it improvised to some degree?
AVI don’t want to produce a fashion film. I feel like many fashion brands are creating content only for their social media channels. This is not the case with me. I have a profound love of cinema. This film has no commercial ambition and that scene was a way to make it even more realistic considering what’s happening in our lives. The project was selfishly born from a deep desire to collaborate with the geniuses of the cinema industry. I have the chance to have access to amazing directors through Saint Laurent and I am not holding back!
In conjunction with the memorial service for Brice Marden held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mirabelle and Melia Marden produced a short film directed by Chiara Clemente to honor the late artist. Featuring interviews, archival photographs, and family videos, this film captures Marden’s vibrant life and enduring cultural impact.
John Elderfield and Lauren Mahony of Gagosian speak with the National Gallery of Art’s Harry Cooper about the new and expanded version of Elderfield’s 1989 monograph on Helen Frankenthaler that Gagosian, in collaboration with the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, will publish this summer. The conversation traces Elderfield’s long interest in Frankenthaler’s work—from his time as a young curator at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, to the present—and reveals some of the new perspectives and discoveries awaiting readers.
The Warp of Time celebrates a hundred years of shared history between the Old Carpet Factory, a historical mansion located on the Greek island of Hydra, and Soutzoglou Carpets. Here, Salomé Gómez-Upegui interviews curator Ekaterina Juskowski about Helen Marden’s woven works within the context of the exhibition, touching upon themes of history, memory, and creative expression.
David Cronenberg’s film The Shrouds made its debut at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in France. Film writer Miriam Bale reports on the motifs and questions that make up this latest addition to the auteur’s singular body of work.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games arrive in Paris on July 26. Ahead of this momentous occasion, Yasmin Meichtry, associate director at the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage, Lausanne, Switzerland, meets with Gagosian senior director Serena Cattaneo Adorno to discuss the Olympic Games’ long engagement with artists and culture, including the Olympic Museum, commissions, and the collaborative two-part exhibition, The Art of the Olympics, being staged this summer at Gagosian, Paris.
Join Brooke Holmes, professor of Classics at Princeton University, and Lissa McClure and Katarina Jerinic, executive director and collections curator, respectively, at the Woodman Family Foundation, as they discuss Francesca Woodman’s preoccupation with classical themes and archetypes, her exploration of the body as sculpture, and her engagement with allegory and metaphor in photography.
Ashley Overbeek speaks with three experts in the field of arts in medicine.
Join Vladimir Yavachev, director of operations for the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, as he discusses the genesis of the artist’s work Wrapped 1961 Volkswagen Beetle Saloon (1963–2014), which Gagosian presented at Art Basel Unlimited 2024.
In conjunction with Marks and Whispers, at Gagosian, Rome, Oscar Murillo and Alessandro Rabottini sit down to discuss the artist’s paintings and works on paper in the exhibition, as well as how the show emphasizes the formal, political, and social dimensions of the color red in Murillo’s work of the last decade.
Join Gagosian for a conversation between director, producer, and writer Sophia Heriveaux and actor, director, and writer Roger Guenveur Smith inside the exhibition Jean-Michel Basquiat: Made on Market Street, at Gagosian, Beverly Hills. Heriveaux and Guenveur Smith both share a personal connection to Basquiat: Heriveaux is the artist’s niece and Guenveur Smith was one of his friends and collaborators. The pair discuss Basquiat’s work and legacy, as well as his lasting impact on contemporary art and culture.
Sébastien Delot is director of conservation and collections at the Musée national Picasso–Paris and the organizer of the first retrospective to focus on Anselm Kiefer’s use of photography, which was held at Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut (Musée LaM) in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. He recently sat down with Gagosian director of photography Joshua Chuang to discuss the exhibition Anselm Kiefer: Punctum at Gagosian, New York. Their conversation touched on Kiefer’s exploration of photography’s materials, processes, and expressive potentials, and on the alchemy of his art.
On the occasion of Art Basel 2024, creative agency Villa Nomad joins forces with Ghetto Gastro, the Bronx-born culinary collective by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker, to stage the interdisciplinary pop-up BRONX BODEGA Basel. The initiative brings together food, art, design, and a series of live events at the Novartis Campus, Basel, during the course of the fair. Here, Jon Gray from Ghetto Gastro and Sarah Quan from Villa Nomad tell the Quarterly’s Wyatt Allgeier about the project.