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Reviews (15)
10 August 2006
Visual feast for the Isabelle Huppert fan
This is a beautiful collection of photographs (both color and black & white) of French actress Isabelle Huppert, taken over a twenty-year period by various professional photographers. It is not a collection of film stills, nor does it offer much analysis of her acting style or the films she has starred in. There are a few very fine short essays, including one by revered critic/philosopher Susan Sontag and another by Elfriede Jellinek, author of "The Piano Teacher" (one of Isabelle's greatest movies). But this is mainly a feast for the eyes, showing many facets of a woman whose beauty is truly unique. In future, it would be good to have a book including more in-depth critical assessment and appreciation of her artistry, because she is one of the very greatest living actresses. But for now, if you are a Huppert fan like me, this is a gorgeous coffee-table book which will bring untold hours of pleasure.
10 October 2006
Nice, but should have been larger format
There are many lovely photos (mostly b&w) of models famous or forgotten in this volume. The effect is lessened however by the book's very small size, even smaller than the average mass-market paperback. Can't understand what the publisher was thinking. These ladies surely deserve more than a few inches (pun intended).
10 August 2006
Indispensible source work on Kieslowski's cinematic art
There are currently several excellent books on Polish film director Krzystof Kieslowski, but this volume must top the list. Here he tells in his own words about his life, his films, his experiences and his aesthetic tastes. Every study on the man and his art written since has drawn heavily on this book. What surprised me at first was Kieslowski's relatively low opinion of cinema as an art form and his downgrading of his own work. This may have been some extreme modesty, but most people who love his films, from the early political documentaries to the later metaphysical masterpieces like "The Decalogue" and the "Three Colours" trilogy, will disagree with his assessments of them. If ever there were films with the multi-leveled richness of great literary works, this man directed them. I guarantee you will be greatly entertained and instructed by this book, particularly if you have enjoyed any of Kieslowski's movies. Word has it that this item has recently gone out of print, so buy it soon!