BOFORS
I JUST WANT SOMEONE TO READ IN BED WITH
102
Script ………………………
W: ................................................................................................................... patronising M: .......................................................................................................... nervous, twitchy W: ........................................................................................................ conversation filler M: ........................................................................................................................... distant W: ......................................................................................................................... irritable M: ........................................................................................................................... quietly W: ............................................................................................................................. gently M:....................................................................................................................… stuttering W: ............................................................................................................................ laughs M: ............................................................................................................................. firmly W: ............................................................................................................................ laughs M: .......................................................................................................................... amused W: ............................................................................................................. matter of factly M: ............................................................................................................ self deprecating W: ......................................................................................................................... annoyed M: .............................................................................................................................. jovial W: ........................................................................................................ happily inquisitve M: .................................................................................................................... definitively W: ...................................................................................................................... interested M: ................................................................................................... relaxed with a smirk W: ................................................................................................................. sarcastically M: ........................................................................................................................ grasping [Monologue] ... explanatory … W: ........................................................................................................................ offended M: ................................................................................................................. [Monologue] ---(cue music and ambient track)--W: .......................................................................................................................... offering M: ....................................................................................... accepting. longing – wishful W: ........................................................................................................ accepting. hopeful M: .................................................................................................................. sighs. gently W: ..................................................................... sighs. Thank you. securely, reassuring
M O T E / HANDKERCHIEF
FRENCH K I S S
boys
girls
CINEMA R U G
B E D S I D E TABLE
BRETON treatment by Ruaidhri Ryan
Introduction BRETON explores; an iconic garment (the Breton Shirt), the male gaze, imitari as discussed by Roland Barthes in Rhetoric of the Image, conceptual and projected personas, identity and hyper-reality. A photographer takes a young girl to Brittany, France, to find the perfect Breton shirt and photograph her in various Brittanique locations; cafÊs, piers, castles, beaches, row boats, hotel rooms etc. The camera becomes it’s own character, a barrier between the photographer and the girl. The obsession with the image becomes a concern of the audience, regarding the uncomfortable relationship between the girl and the photographer and the potential pitfalls that may arise through the hierarchy between director and directed.
Venetian blinds & French shutters
Chanel, Monroe & Bardot History of the Breton Shirt The striped breton shirt as we know it today came into being shortly following the 27th March, 1858 Act of France which introduced the navy and white striped knitted shirt as the uniform for all French navy seaman in Brittany. The shirt was originally known as marinière or matelot. The original design featured 21 stripes, one for each of Napolean’s victories. Since 1889, the garment was manufactured by Bretagne, Tricots Saint James in wool and cotton for sailors. It then become popular with breton workers, for its ease of wear and practicality. The official striped navy and white shirt became more generally a working mariner garment as it was picked up by men of the sea; seafairers and sailors across the region of Northern France. The distinctive block pattern of stripes on the French striped shirt made them easier to spot in the waves. The garment usually had a boat neckline. In the 1950s and 60s the shirt was again popularized by the Beatnik community and alternative culture.
Fashion Inspired by sailors, after a visit to the French coast, Coco Chanel introduced the design to the fashion world through her nautical collection in 1917. The Breton top became a symbol of haute-bourgeois loveliness during the pre-war Riviera years. The introduction of this garment from the traditional working class to female fashion, was a breakaway from the heavily corseted belle epoque fashion of the time. The introduction of more casual wear to women’s fashion was required at the time due to the increase in popularity of seaside destinations, like Saint Tropez. Coco Chanel designed the piece to be paired the shirt with long flared trousers. As the style adapted during the 1930s, the upper class would pair the top with a cravat, blazer and shorts. The shirt was then made popular by Marilyn Monroe, Pablo Picasso, Brigitte Bardot, Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean and Jean Seberg. The design is now synonymous with chic Parisian style. The shirt has been recreated in collections by fashion houses like, Balmain, Gucci, Givenchy and Jean Paul Gaultier, who has become an ambassador of sorts. He requires his press team to wear a version during his runway shows. The designer featured the style heavily in his work, most notably his male perfume bottle, Le Male which launched in 1993, is clad in a breton T-shirt.
Concepts Perfection The couple are embarking on a search for the perfect Breton shirt, with such an array of band width, frequencies and colours on offer, what does this mean? How is perfection defined in this case? Male Gaze The photographer/filmmaker character (played by the artist) is committed to capturing a certain kind of pose from his model. He is obsessed with a very particular projection of the girls character in his photograph Documentary/Reality Tension mounts through the unclear distinction between what is real. what is constructed and what is fictional. Location Porn Using the beautiful and historic backdrop of Brittany as a ‘foreign’ place to set the drama. Inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic and then homo sapiens in around 35,000 BC, it was then home to the Romans, the Britons and the Celts, it remains a rugged and culturally fertile land. Camera as Character Hyperrealtity
Location Family holidays, young romance. Cats. Stone walled buildings, balconettes, ledges for walking around. Caves, famous five, pirate tales. Long grass, soft light. Balmy cobbled streets with cafes of parents drinking short beers and children drinking glass bottles of coke. Small 10Franc vending machines dispensing small plastic eggs with toys inside (like a kinder egg) Driftwood Coarse sand, rough cotton t-shirts. Sun burn, itchy back and black cats. Boulangerie, shoestrings.
Loo in the garden Lonely, grateful donkeys with flies in their eyes Scrap books and chess. Fountain pens Dinghys, rock, moss, salt water, spray, umbrellas, salami, stubbies. Swimming trunks.
Girl She likes oversized fisherman jumpers. Denim. Dungarees. Long brown, windswept hair, sexy, a ‘don’t care how I look attitude’. Just woken up. Coffee, pastry, Strawberry Jam. BUTTER Gingham. Rolled up short sleeves tucked into highwaisted jeans. FRECKLES. Long walks, likes black cats, lots of them. She giggles with three fingers in front of her mouth and shakes her shoulders, she thinks about boys who wear leather sandals, have blonde streaks in their side parted hair do, wears spectacles and is kind, courteous and dependable. She drives an old Fiat 500 or cycles a vintage Peugeot mens road bike with drop Ds or a Pashley with a basket on the front. Topknot? Has a pencil tied up in her hair. She walks through a park/cemetary each morning, the grass is covered in morning dew. She drinks in a cafe where the black cat purrs as it rubs against her leg. High heeled, open toe sandlas. Three quarter length skirt. Red bookcloth book under her arm. She wears a brown, soft leather belt, she tucks the excess belt under the part around her waist to loop down. She has cute, smiley girlfriends who don’t talk, they have sleepovers. She bites her bottom lip when she’s turned on. She spends time looking out of windows.
Film Style Music Video Travelogue / Home Video Feature, Eric Rohmer Seasons Series Documentary, Lars Von Trier The Five Obstructions Duration 3 minutes 3 hours Format 16mm Super 8 VHS DV HD Grade Pastels Earthy Fresh Audio Live Voice Over
Conclusion Passing through an array of beautiful locations and staging poses for photographs and polaroids, the film concludes in an abstract seduction/sex/rape scene? Maybe love? The couple has become so intertwined with the beauty of the images they have produced together that the ultimate romance seems like a quasi natural amalgamation of the developing relationship between the couple and the honeymoonesque adventure they have shared together.
Yannick, a tall girl who I liked to look at with her hair piled on top of her head. This hairstyle gave her a migrane, but to please me she was willing to wear it that way for an hour or two.