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© DR - Louise Brooks -Années 20 /Copyright mptvimages/Eastman House p6
02/11/2012 07:06
LOULOU - La boîte de pandore (1929)
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Dans le rôle de Loulou, une femme misérable aux prises avec Jack l'éventreur après une série d'escapades salaces, fait d'elle une icône de la vie et de la mort dans la période jazzy.Ce film est renommé pour son traitement cru des mœurs sexuelles d'alors, y compris la première apparition à l'écran d'une lesbienne. Louise joue ensuite dans les sociodrames controversés que sont Le Journal d'une fille perdue (1929) et Prix de beauté (1930), ce dernier étant tourné en France et offrant une fin aussi choquante que fascinante.
Tous ces films sont largement censurés, étant très « adultes » dans leur propos et considérés comme choquants en raison de leur affichage de la sexualité, sans compter une critique acerbe de la société.Bien que passés inaperçus à l'époque en raison du succès des films parlants, ces trois films furent plus tard reconnus comme des pièces maîtresses du cinéma muet, son personnage de Loulou étant désormais mythique.
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© DR - Louise Brooks -Années 20 /Copyright mptvimages/Eastman House p7
02/11/2012 07:12
Louise est considérée comme l'une des premières actrices « naturelles » du cinéma, son jeu étant subtil et nuancé par rapport à de nombreux acteurs du cinéma muet. Le gros plan était en vogue chez les réalisateurs, et le visage de Louise s'y prêtait parfaitement.Louise a toujours été égocentrique, parfois d'un caractère difficile, et elle n'hésitait pas à user de sa verve acidulée lorsque l'occasion s'en présentait
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De plus, elle s'était promis de ne jamais sourire face à la caméra, sauf si elle y était obligée, et bien que la plupart de ses photos la montrent avec une expression neutre, on peut parfois la voir arborer un sourire éblouissant.(Oui! qu'il est BEAU son sourire)De son propre aveu, c'était une femme libérée, encline aux expériences, posant même nue pour des photographes et ses liaisons avec de nombreuses vedettes du cinéma sont légendaires.
Elle était également dépensière, mais gentille et généreuse envers ses amis, presque à l'excès. Lorsqu'elle retourne à Hollywood, elle est sur la liste noire et ne peut reconquérir son succès d'antan. Des rumeurs propagées par les studios laissent entendre que sa voix n'est pas adaptée aux films parlants, ce qui est faux.En 1938, après avoir été humiliée de se retrouver dans des films de série B où les studios l'avaient casée pour lui faire regretter son dédain d'antan, elle se retire du show business, et retourne à Wichita (Kansas), la ville de son enfance.Mais elle n'y trouve pas la tranquillité qu'elle y espérait. Elle écrit :"Les gens de Wichita étaient jaloux de mon succès, ou me méprisaient pour mes échecs. Et tout cela ne m'enchantait pas vraiment.Je dois reconnaître qu'une malédiction pèse sur moi : mon propre échec en tant qu'être humain dans cette société."
Elle retourne vers l'Est et travaille pendant quelques années comme vendeuse dans un magasin Saks sur la Cinquième Avenue à New York, puis vit aux frais de divers hommes fortunés. Louise a toujours aimé l'alcool, elle y sombre bientôt, mais parvient à exorciser ses démons : c'est le début de sa seconde vie.Les historiens français du cinéma redécouvrent ses films au début des années 1950, et Henri Langlois, fondateur de la cinémathèque n'hésite pas à déclarer « Il n’y a pas de Garbo ! Il n’y a pas de Dietrich ! Il n’y a que Louise Brooks ! ».(ouh la la j'commence à avoir vraiment honte de mon ignorance!)
Cela a pour effet de lui attirer un nouveau public et la réhabilite même dans son propre pays.James Card, le conservateur des films de la George Eastman House, la retrouve recluse à New York et la persuade de le suivre à Rochester. Avec son aide, elle devient une scénariste reconnue.Un recueil de ses écrits paraîtra en 1982 sous le nom de Loulou à Hollywood. Le scénariste Kenneth Tynan dresse d'elle un portrait avantageux dans son essai La Fille au Casque Noir, dont le titre fait allusion à sa coupe de cheveux si particulière et devenue mondialement célèbre.Elle donnait rarement des interviews, mais était en bons termes avec John Kobal et Kevin Brownlow, deux historiens du cinéma, et ils purent coucher sur papier certains aspects de sa personnalité.
Elle est considérée comme l'une des plus grandes actrices de l'histoire du cinéma (je suis mal!...mais MAL!aaaaarrrrgh), et l'une des plus belles stars jamais photographiées.Son autobiographie, Lulu in Hollywood, a été publiée en version française en 1983 dans une collection dirigée par Maurice Bessy aux Éditions Pygmalion.En 2007, l'écrivain Roland Jaccard, qui a connu Louise Brooks, lui consacre une troublante biographie. "Portrait d’une flapper".
Elle vécut seule, de son propre choix, pendant de nombreuses années, et mourut d'une crise cardiaque en 1985 après avoir longtemps souffert d'arthrite et d'emphysème.(Là je déprime carrément)Après sa mort, un film biographique, Louise Brooks: Looking For Lulu, fut réalisé en 1998.Elle se maria deux fois mais n'eut jamais d'enfants — elle aimait à se décrire comme un ruisseau aride (barren brook en anglais). Son premier mari fut le réalisateur A. Edward Sutherland dont elle divorça. Le second fut le millionnaire de Chicago Deering Davis qu'elle épousa en 1933. Deering la quitta cinq mois plus tard, et ils divorcèrent en 1937.
Hommages / Trivia
-Jean-Luc Godard lui a rendu hommage via Anna Karina dans Vivre sa vie.
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-En 1984, Richard Leacock lui consacre un documentaire, intitulé Lulu in Berlin, dont une conversation avec Louise Brooks qu'il avait rencontrée, alors âgée de 67 ans, à Rochester.
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Louise Brooks inspira à l'auteur de bande dessinée italien Guido Crepax le personnage de Valentina (1968). Lors d'une correspondance avec Crepax, elle lui dira sa fierté d'avoir servi de modèle non seulement à Valentina, mais aussi au personnage Dixie Dugan (1926-1966) dans la série du mm nom de John Striebel : "Et vous avez commencé Valentina en 1965 comme si vous me repreniez lorsqu'à sa mort John m'abandonna
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Hugo Pratt s'inspira d'elle pour le personnage de Louise Brookszowyc, une Polonaise vivant à Venise, dans l'album Fable de Venise de la série Corto Maltese.En 1983, Hugo Pratt fait une visite surprise à Louise Brooks ; elle le fait entrer dans le salon. Il est surpris d'y trouver Fable de Venise. Lorsque Louise revient dans la pièce, elle le trouve avec la bande dessinée en main et lui dit que c'est Guido Crepax qui lui a envoyé l'album et que le dessinateur est vraiment doué. Pratt lui avoue alors être ce dessinateur.
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-En 1991, le groupe britannique Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark lui rend hommage dans son album Sugar Tax. La chanson s'appelle Pandora's Box, en référence au film Loulou (1929). Le clip vidéo montre de nombreux plans de Louise Brooks, tous extraits de ce film.
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-En 1998, un documentaire intitulé Looking for Lulu lui est consacré. Réalisé par Hugh Munro Leely, avec Shirley MacLaine comme narratrice, le film dresse un portrait de l'actrice au travers d'interviews d'amis (Dana Delany, Francis Lederer, Roddy McDowall ...)
* -En 2000 le groupe francais de rock Lady Godiva sort son 1er album qui se nomme Louise Brooks Avenue sur lequel se trouve la chanson titre Louise Brooks ; en outre le groupe fait partie de la Louise Brooks Society.Link : http://www.pandorasbox.com*
-Une des guitares (Fender Jaguar) du chanteur de Placebo (Brian Molko) porte le nom de « Louise » en l'honneur de Louise Brooks et est décorée d'un autocollant à son effigie
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-Louise Brooks est au centre du livre de Katherine Pancol Embrassez-moi, publié en 2003. Elle est alors à l'aube de sa vie. À travers le dialogue entre l'héroïne et l'actrice, on y découvre sa vie d'artiste et de femme, ses rencontres et ses amours, mais surtout les blessures qui ont émaillé toute son existence.
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-Dans son clip L'Incendie s'inspirant des années 1920-1930, issu de son dernier album Divine Idylle, Vanessa Paradis incarne, à plusieurs reprises, Louise Brooks s'amusant avec un sautoir, accessoire qui pouvait la symboliser.
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-Louise Brooks a inspiré le parfum Loulou de Cacharel.
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Filmographie
Films muets
1925 : L'École des mendiants (The Street of Forgotten Men) de Herbert Brenon (non créditée)
1926 : The American Venus de Frank Tuttle : Miss Bayport
1926 : Le Galant Étalagiste (Love 'Em and Leave 'Em) de Frank Tuttle avec Evelyn Brent : Janie Walsh
1926 : Au suivant de ces messieurs de Malcolm St. Clair avec Adolphe Menjou : Kitty Laverne
1926 : Un conte d'apothicaire ( de A. Edward Sutherland avec W. C. Fields : Mildred Marshall
1926 : Moi (The Show Off) de Malcolm St. Clair avec Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson : Clara, Joe's Girl
1926 : Just Another Blonde d'Alfred Santell : Diana O'Sullivan
1927 : Un homme en habit de Luther Reed avec Menjou, Noah Beery, Lilyan Tashman : Fox Trot
1927 : Frères ennemis de Richard Rosson avec James Hall, Richard Arlen : Carol Fleming
1927 : Now We're in the Air de Frank Strayer avec W. C. Fields : Griselle
1927 : La Cité maudite (The City Gone Wild) de James Cruze : Snuggles Joy
1928 : Une fille dans chaque port (A Girl in Every Port) de Howard Hawks : Marie, en France
1928 : Les Mendiants de la vie (Beggars of Life) de William A. Wellman : La femme (Nancy)
1929 : Loulou (Die Büchse der Pandora) de Georg Wilhelm Pabst : Lulu
1929 : Le Journal d'une fille perdue (Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) de Georg Wilhelm Pabst : Thymian
Films parlants
1929 : The Canary Murder Case de Malcolm St. Clair et Frank Tuttle : Margaret Odell (the Canary)
1930 : Prix de beauté de Augusto Genina : Lucienne Garnier
1931 : La publicité rapporte (It Pays to Advertise) de Frank Tuttle : Thelma Temple
1931 : God's Gift to Women : Florine
1931 : Windy Riley Goes Hollywood : Betty Grey
1931 : Who's Who in the Zoo
1936 : Hollywood Boulevard de Robert Florey : Joyce Beaton
1936 : Empty Saddles : 'Boots' Boone
1937 : L'Homme qui terrorisait New York (King of Gamblers) de Robert Florey (scènes supprimées)
1938 : Overland Stage Raiders : Beth Hoyt
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© DR - Louise Brooks -Années 20 /Copyright mptvimages/Eastman House p8
02/11/2012 07:15
A Conversation with Louise Brooks
By Richard Leacock, Rochester, New York. 1973
I went to Miss. Brooks apartment with a 16mm camera and a tape recorder. Sandy D'Annunzio, a talented student from MIT accompanied me. Louise admitted us to her neat apartment. She asked that we remove our shoes. I suggested that she go about her normal daily routine and let me film her. "NO! We sit down at this table and you do what you have come to do!"
She was dressed in a house coat over her nightie, her feet were bare. She had a lot of powder on her face... I did not dare to ask that she change anything, her mind was obviously made up... Sandy filmed us with no more ado. It took about and hour and when we were done she asked that Sandy leave with the equipment. He did. When we were alone she remarked that she hadn't had a drink in five days in order to be in good shape for this, so she would cook an omelet while I went out and came back with a quart of Gin. "... I don't give a damn what brand but don't come back with a fifth! I want a quart, 'cos you and I are going to get drunk!".
I did as I was told.
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RL ... as I understand it, when you decided to go, Pabst had never seen you, you'd never seen him, and I doubt if you even knew who he was.
LB :Well, let me tell you about it. In September 1928 I had been three years at Paramount in Hollywood, and I was terribly in love with George Marshall, he was a very rich young laundry man, had made a fortune in Washington with his laundries. He later became the owner of the famous Redskin Football team. He called me one day and said, "you know, in September, you know tomorrow your option comes up". He called me from Washington. I said "really"
He said "your friend Monty Bell from MGM called me and told me all about it". And he said "now look, when you go in to see Mr. Schulberg he's going to tell you that he will keep you on at $750 a week but he wont give you a raise on your option" and he said "I also know that some guy in Berlin called Pabst wants you for a very famous picture I hear. And he'll give you a thousand dollars a week.. So you let Schulberg talk and when he's finished you say, thank you Mr. Schulberg but I'll quit and go to Germany". And that is what I did, much to Mr. Schulberg's surprise.
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And of course later he put out the story that I left because my voice was bad and didn't record well. So George wanted to go to Europe,and Pabst had never seen me, he'd seen one picture called "A Girl In Every Port" (directed) by Howard Hawks... And of course I'd never heard of him, but we met on the platform of the station Am Zoo... I don't know, it was just as if we had known each other for ever and it was marvelous... and it was the most curious experience I've ever had in my life, he understood me absolutely perfectly ... because that really was his genius.
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© DR - Louise Brooks -Années 20 /Copyright mptvimages/Eastman House p9
02/11/2012 07:18
A Conversation with Louise Brooks(suite)
© DR- (by Richard Leacock, Rochester, New York. 1973)
RL Now, he spoke English, but you didn't speak German, right?
LB I never learned to speak any language...
RL Did he speak good English?
LB Oh he spoke excellent English, he spoke rather slowly and precisely and I've heard him speak German, French, Czech, English and he speaks them all exactly the same, as if he is attaching his words to your brain....
(At this point a fuse blew and our lights went out ... delay!)
RL From what I understood you were given an English version of the script but from what I remember you started shooting immediately..
LB Yes, and although we'd never met and never seen each other and knew nothing about each other, I say there was this marvelous affinity between us; and the second thing was this terrible shock when he saw George Marshall, tall, handsome guy with a...
RL Oh! He came with you?
LB Of course! That's why we went, because George didn't care about the film, he wanted to go to Europe for fun. And Pabst looked around and of course George was a huge, big, handsome, black-haired man with a drunken English valet. And don't forget, George was from West Virginia and he talked rather like that (spoken with a heavy southern drawl). And his valet staggering around with huge amounts of luggage and Pabst said ... and George explained who he was and immediately took charge of everything and Pabst was perfectly furious... and of course that was only the beginning, because every time we met I always had a guy, and a different guy and it was a long series, over the years, of his getting madder and madder; but at any rate we started the picture.
RL So OK, I'm thinking of two things at once; how long did George last?
LB Well, he drove Pabst absolutely insane because we started the picture. You see, they'd been waiting me for a long time, he'd been looking all over Europe for a girl to play this part, and he was going to give it to ... to ... er Marlene Dietrich, she was too old and the girl...
RL And this is the early, the early Dietrich.
LB- Yes, she was five years older than , I was 20, she was 25, but don't forget, she'd been around for years in Berlin where it was really rough...
RL I remember the early Dietrich, it was the pre...
LB The European when she was ... the "Blue Angel".
RL Yes.
LB But you know, she was very knowing and suave, and as he said, onelook and Lulu would be dead. But at any rate, it was very hard to find a truly beautiful woman in Europe. Did you know that in Europe they weren't beautiful all over. And she came the closest and he said, "the very day I got the cable from you saying that you would come, she was sitting in my office and I was going to sign her."
RL But what I'm trying to get at is something that I think you quote from... um I think in your article which says Lulu is not a real character but...
LB Exactly
RL But a compilation of primitive sexuality who inspired evil, unaware, she plays a purely passive role.
LB Yes
RL Now you weren't aware of this, right?
LB No.
RL You didn't even know who Lulu was!?
LB I'd never heard of Wedekind, I'd never heard of Pabst I didn't know anything, I never did.
RL So he gave you a script.
LB Oh yes, you want to know about the script. That was amusing. He had all these German Jewish assistants, that's one reason I could never understand the Jews turning on him, because most of the ones who did turn on him, had worked for him, he had given them their first jobs, and they were very grand and they ordered me about..."Fraulein Brooks komen Sie hier!" and so on. He had to stop that, by the way, because I jumped, it was like they beat on my door "Fraulein Brooks ... !" and he said "Now Falkenberg, you mustn't do that, she gets very nervous." But at any rate, they brought it to me with a great, how do you call it, manner. I was sitting on the set with Josephine and my bottle of Vermouth and they brought me a huge script, I say it was this thick. He always had a huge script, he never used it, because he knew every instant what he was going to do, weeks before! He never touched the script.
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© DR - Louise Brooks -Années 20 /Copyright mptvimages/Eastman House p10
02/11/2012 07:24
RL But he knew it cold?
LB Yes. This was the script that they carried around; very important! In their white coats!
RL So he wasn't improvising the script?
LB He created all the time, he knew exactly. He had fun writing the script with the writer. They brought me this huge script, they put it on my lap and I looked at it. I had never read a script in my life! and I haven't yet! I opened it and read a few pages. I thought, oh my God! And it was very expensive, it was all translated! So I put it down by my chair and went on without it. When I came back it was gone. Zorn, Falkenberg ... Lothar Wolff I liked, he was Pabst's assistant, he was a very nice man, adored Pabst... but one of them picked it up furiously! Josephine said "you should have kept that!" Gee! I wish I had. It would be valuable now!
RL So actuary, when you got around to reading... to discovering what Lulu was about...
LB When I started writing here about ten years ago. I hadn't the vaguest idea...
RL Twenty years after the film was made...
LB Thirty! Let me finish about George Marshall because this is very funny. Pabst and George and Pabst's wife Trudi; she was quite young and had a little boy, I think he was about two, Peter who came to a tragic end. So Pabst and Trudi and Marshall and ... Marshall would take us... Marshall had a gift for finding... we'd go to Horsch's marvelous restaurant and always in tails. I don't think Pabst liked to get dressed up in tails and I don't think Trudi had many evening dresses. We had this wild week. I had to be on the set every morning, hot or cold, whether he used me or not, at nine o'clock, and George would have me up all night... and Pabst was furious.
We'd all go out to dinner and Trudi would glare at me and refuse to speak English and Pabst was furious with George and George didn't give a damn! He spent a week there, he had my manager-, he had appointed my manager whom I gave a hundred dollars a week to, he told me how to pay each person and... took him to all the most expensive bordellos... oh he had an absolutely marvelous time. He was taking me to the theatre every night and I'd come on the set with klieg eyes... and so Pabst was furious; he didn't ask when he was leaving but suddenly one morning; I remember, we were shooting the murder scene and...
RL Where you murdered Doctor Schoen?
LB Yes, and Kortner was wandering around testing chocolate syrup to see whether it was sweet enough, you know, he had a sponge...... and George came on the set and he said to Pabst, "you'll be very happy" he said "I'm leaving tomorrow!" And Pabst said "I'm very happy..." (Laughter) So after that Pabst would not let me... every night someone would say to me, Louise does not go out to night! She goes to bed! So I would go to bed.The funny thing about Lulu was this; he knew instinctively that I was Lulu and that was fine in the picture. Making the movie was perfect, he just turned me loose and I'd be all right, but off the set, he wanted me to be an intelligent woman, a well disciplined actress, and I wasn't! He kept taking drinks out of my hand; seeing that I was kept in my room and ... and he was furious because he approached people intellectually and you couldn't approach me intellectually because there was nothing to approach! So he was always a little bit mad at me.
RL But at the same time he was aware that you were a Lulu.
LB Oh! Absolutely! But he didn't like it! You see, he was mad at George, he was mad at all the succession of men.
RL (precis)Since you did not know the story, I've seen directors who take the actors and describe the whole motivation of the picture...
LB I knew nothing about the film! Never did until ten years ago.
RL I've seen the American film Love Them and Leave Them which is verydifferent from Pandoras Box so I was wondering how he discussed the motivation; how did he work?
LB- That's what I'm getting at. That is why, as I say, he was a great psychologist. He treated every one in a completely different manner. Most directors, most great directors, for instance Lubitsch, used the same technique with everyone. Lubitsch acted out every scene and acted it marvelously! I don't know whether I could have worked with him.
RL Showing the actor how to do it.
LB Every move! Every move! Eddie Goulding, the same way. He even showed Garbo how to cross the library, I mean the hotel lobby in Grand Hotel and he was right! Because they were extraordinary... but most directors are terrible ... but Pabst never acted out anything and he treated everybody completely differently. For instance, he sat one day with me and we were chewing on some old sauerkraut or something and he said "Louise! This afternoon you must cry!" and that's all he told me about the scene and I went into the scene and I cried. He would mostly give me a floor plan, he was more a choreographer with me, and I was a dancer, than anything else........ you come in slowly and you do this ... and this is the situation..." and that was the end.
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