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This video fiction is based on the diaries of three women coming from utterly different cultural backgrounds and centuries. Sei Shonagon comes from 11th century Kyoto, Apronénia Avitia lives in Rome in the 3rd century and Valentine Valentin is a contemporary Parisienne. The women write their feelings and thoughts. The Japanese woman with a brush seated at a low table in front of the open window with a view of the Fuji mountain, which looks as if it has been borrowed straight from a print. Similarly unreal are the fresco paintings of the Roman villa: seated at a marble table, the Roman woman writes onto a slab, while the modern woman dictates her text into a recorder in a contemporary interior which stands out for its ordinariness. Here, too, the mixture of real/unreal in the interior: the two pictures of the Japanese and the Roman come to life on top of the television set. Thus the encounters between the women and their worlds are always visualised wittily. This is done in ten short chapters dealing with a broad range of subjects such as beauty and make-up, wishes as concerns the ideal man and things to remember. When the women groom themselves, the Parisienne brushes her teeth carefully while the Japanese blackens hers prettily and the Roman takes a facial mask while having a bath. The latter is a paragon of elegance, pops a grape into her mouth from time to time and leans across her marble tabletop very engagingly, thus presenting a great contrast to the somewhat slovenly Parisienne. Various brilliant pictorial solutions and a sparkling tone increase the delight of viewing this delicate production.
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Ingrid van Santen
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Image: Jean François Gasnier, Jean Pierre Mollet, Light: Daniel Defontaine, Editing: Bernard Sasia, Henry-Claude de la Casinière, Sound: Xavier Vauthrin, Christian Levier, Jean Claude Brisson, Benoit Menager, Music: Peter Chase, Sound mixing: Jean Labourel, Marc Dondon, Animation: Jean Rubak, With: Olympia Carlisi, Tumi Fujimori, Rosette, Voice: Diana Calmat, Make-up: Agnès Morlhingem, Costumes: Nicole Geraud, Musicians: Muriel Geoffroy, Claudine Bonodot, Philippe Piquet, Production: INA/La Sept/La Sacem
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