Jul 31, 2012
Jul 30, 2012
Perfumes on the screen
1. In the Buñuel masterpiece Belle de Jour there are big bottles of Guerlain placed in Séverine Serizy’s (Catherine Deneuve's) bathroom, one of them being Guerlain Mitsouko, which she later in the film smash to the floor before spending the rest of the afternoon as a prostitute. Another interesting fact about Mitsouko is that MGM producer Paul Bern, allegedly poured this scent, his wife’s favorite perfume, all over his body before committing suicide two weeks after their wedding.
2. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) from his the jail cell in Silence of the Lambs “You use Evian skin products and sometimes L’Air du Temps… but not today”. Here referring to Nina Ricci L'Air du Temps.
3. In the not so memorable James Bond film Majesty's Secret Service from 1969 there is a scene where Bond, played by even less memorable George Lazenby, recognizes Tracey's (beautiful Diana Rigg) perfume as Guerlain L'Heure Bleue. In regards to what 007 wears, then I just don't know anymore. In the newest Bond film he’s drinking Heineken instead of straight whiskey or Vodka Martinis so I guess he’s wearing whatever is on sale.
4. While Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is taking a bath and puts on his herb-mint facial mask and does his thousand stomach crunches in American Psycho a bottle of Yves Saint Lauren Pour Homme is standing on his counter.
5. In Tom Ford’s A Single Man there is a bottle of Tom Ford White Patchouli on Charley’s (Julianne Moore's) dresser. Two things are interesting here: the director is sort of making an intertextual reference/product placement to himself. The other thing is how Julianne Moore's character kind of seems like the exact same person she played in Boggie Nights only 12 years later.
8. In Black Swan the hysteric ballerina/Swan Queen/Black Swan (Nathalie Portman) returns a stolen bottle of Chanel No. 5 to the Dying Swan (Winona Ryder). Chanel No. 5 is also featured in gentleman provocateur John Waters' film Desperate Living when Mink Stole splashes herself liberally with it, plus in every other film with or about Marilyn.
9. Withnail (Richard E. Grant) in the 1997 classic Withnail & I scrubs his boots with an essence of petunia before going out in the countryside. This way he can get up the nose of the Camden bruisers. I know this is not actually a perfume but it's a flower scent of sorts and it's a damn good film.
10. Caron’s Narcisse Noir is a perfume that inspired a novel and a film of the same name. I haven’t read the novel but the film is decent – it’s about nuns. Golden era Hollywood star Gloria Swanson is said to have had herself and the set of Sunset Boulevard sprayed with it every day of the shooting.
Jul 27, 2012
Jul 20, 2012
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