New short film homage to Louise Brooks

A future Truffaut is born.

Just recently, a new short film called Loving Louise Brooks debuted on the internet. It’s the work of Sebastian Pesle, a French student. He has crafted a very true film well worth watching.

It is an 11 minute work which speaks not only to the vagaries of young love, but also to cinematic obsession – and the times when those forces collide. As a student work, it is especially mature, and really rather impressive.

Loving Louise Brooks was made over the course of 2009 - 2010. It is a wordless sound film, in effect a “silent film,” though with a musical soundtrack. The film has recently popped up on Daily Motion, and a few other video sharing sights. There is also a small website for the project at http://lovinglouisebrooks.com/

Loving Louise Brooks features Sebastian Pesle as a young cineaste obsessed with the silent film star. In a couple of scenes, he is shown sitting in a movie theater watching the 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl. And in another scene, he is reading a soft cover French edition of Brooks’ Lulu in Hollywood.

His charming girl friend, longing for his affection, is played by the charming Malvina Desmarest. In the end, she must effect Brooks’ appearance (a la Thymain in Diary of a Lost Girl) to get his attention. Whether this ploy works or not, we won’t say. You will have to watch the film to find out.

And by the way, the characters in this short work are themselves making a film. Also in the cast are Alexis Garin and Yannis Letournel. All are film students, I believe, at the Lycee Jean-Batiste Corot. The story is by Lauranne Launay.

For more info: A small French-language website for Loving Louise Brooks can be found at http://lovinglouisebrooks.com/. It includes a synopsis and scenario and other bits and pieces.

Thomas Gladysz is a longtime fan of Louise Brooks, so much so that in 1995 he founded the Louise Brooks Society, an internet-based archive and fan club devoted to the legendary silent film star. Gladysz has contributed to books on the actress, organized exhibits, appeared on television, and introduced her films around the country. Recently, he edited and wrote the introduction to the “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Bohme’s The Diary of a Lost Girl.

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