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Sylvia Kristel - Paris

Manon de Boer

Super-8 film transferred to video, color, 4:3, stereo, French spoken, English subtitles, BE, 2003, 39’

Sylvia Kristel – Paris is a portrait of Sylvia Kristel , best known for her role in the 1970’s erotic cult classic Emmanuelle, as well as a film about the impossibility of memory in relation to biography. Between November 2000 and June 2002 Manon de Boer recorded the stories and memories of Kristel. At each recording session she asked her to speak about a city where Kristel has lived: Paris, Los Angeles, Brussels or Amsterdam; over the two years she spoke on several occasions about the same city. At first glance the collection of stories appears to make up a sort of biography, but over time it shows the impossibility of biography: the impossibility of ‘plotting’ somebody’s life as a coherent narrative.

After having recorded different stories Manon de Boer decided to only use two stories about the period that Kristel lived in Paris. In the course of the montage she decided not to show the two stories in their chronological order. In other words: to show first the story recorded in 2002 and after that the story recorded in 2001. This was done because the story which she tells first, ergo the one that you hear as the second one, provides far less details. In that way not only the memory of Sylvia Kristel is questioned but also the memory of the viewer is questioned and an element of doubt is introduced.

Kristel’s stories wander through some of the key points in her life, fluidly forming and reforming the narrative elements. The city itself is rarely described directly. She speaks of her films, her love-affairs and how these have influenced her life’s trajectory. The cities are co-ordinates to which her memories move to, find themselves within and move away from. This finds a parallel in the image. These images are filmed from high-up and at street level, moving over the cities’ skin: its roofs, apartment buildings and boulevards, intercut by shots of cinemas, publicity images and people. The architecture appears as an interface between interiority and exteriority. Old Paris is intercut with images of architecture from the 1970’s; buildings which didn’t exist when she lived there, but which are as iconic of the period as she is herself.

Prix Georges de Beauregard, FID Marseille (FR) 2004.

With Sylvia Kristel
Image Manon de Boer
Editing Inneke Van Waeyenberghe & Manon de Boer
Sound Manon de Boer
Soundtrack George van Dam & Manon de Boer

Sylvia Kristel - Paris has been on display at the following locations:

Cinematek Brussels, (BE) Monday, Apr 17 2023 Open City Documentary Festival London, (GB) Sunday, Sep 11 2022 Art Cinema OFFoff Gent, (BE) Monday, Mar 14 2022 CC De Steiger Menen, (BE) Dec 5 2020–Feb 7 2021 Hunterian Gallery Glasgow, (GB) Friday, Dec 1 2017 Documentaire sur grand écran Paris, (FR) Monday, Oct 16 2017 Kino MM, Student Center Zagreb, (HR) Thursday, Jan 12 2017 Broadway Cinematheque Hong Kong, (CN) Saturday, Jan 16 2016 Le Clignoteur Brussel, (BE) Friday, Jun 19 2015 Festival International du Film de La Roche sur Yon, (FR) Sunday, Oct 19 2014 Le Fresnoy Tourcoing, (FR) Monday, Oct 6 2014 Fogo Island Arts Fogo Island, (CA) Friday, Oct 3 2014 Australian Cinémathèque , (AU) Saturday, Aug 16 2014 Osso & Architecture Triennale Lisbon, (PT) Friday, Sep 20 2013 Cinema Spoutnik Geneva, (CH) Tuesday, Sep 3 2013 Konstmuseum Kalmar, (SE) Jun 15–Sep 15 2013 Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, (NL) Jun 8–Sep 15 2013 Les Nuits Sonores Lyon, (FR) May 7–May 12 2013 Fokus, Nikolaj Kunsthal Copenhagen, (DK) Saturday, Feb 9 2013 Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Cinémathèque & Le Cratère Toulouse, (FR) Jan 23–Jan 25 2013 Institut Néerlandais: Action Christine Paris, (FR) Tuesday, Jan 22 2013 Museum of Art Philadelphia, (US) Nov 16 2012–May 5 2013 AXENEO7 Québec, (CA) Sep 6–Oct 21 2012 Artists Space: Books & Talks New York, (US) Friday, May 4 2012 Ochoymedio Quito, (EC) Friday, Mar 30 2012 Heidelberger Kunstverein Heidelberg, (DE) Mar 9–Apr 15 2012 16th Line Gallery Rostov-on-Don, (RU) Jun 13–Jul 7 2011 Videoex Festival Zürich, (CH) Friday, May 27 2011 Index Stockholm, (SE) Wednesday, Apr 13 2011 Cinema Rits Brussels, (BE) Wednesday, Feb 9 2011 SHIFT Festival Basel, (CH) Friday, Oct 29 2010 Nova & Cifa Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, Hefei, Hong Kong, (CN) Sep 10–Sep 30 2010 Watou 2010 Watou, (BE) Jul 3–Sep 5 2010 Kunsthalle Exnergasse Vienna, (AT) Mar 24–Apr 25 2010 Ciné d'archi, La Miroiterie Forcalquier, (FR) Wednesday, Mar 10 2010 Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf, (DE) Nov 28 2009–Feb 28 2010 Theater Mercelis Brussels, (BE) Tuesday, Apr 21 2009 Frankfurter Kunstverein Frankfurt, (DE) Feb 7–Apr 27 2009 Lund Konsthall Lund, (SE) Jan 31–Mar 29 2009 Witte de With Rotterdam, (NL) Jan 25–Feb 24 2009 Villa Merkel Esslingen, (DE) Jan 18–Feb 15 2009 Argos Brussel, (BE) Jan 18–Feb 15 2009 De Warande Turnhout, (BE) Jan 10–Feb 8 2009 The Power Plant Toronto, (CA) Oct 20–Nov 23 2008 Maison de la Culture Frontenac Montreal, (CA) Wednesday, Sep 24 2008 Konsfack University Stockholm, (SE) May 2–May 4 2008 Frankfurter Kunstverein Frankfurt, (DE) Feb 7–Apr 27 2008 Argos Brussel, (BE) Nov 22–Nov 30 2007 Gradisca international film studies spring school Gradisca, (IT) Mar 26–Mar 27 2007