The artistry will be glittering at the second edition of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, which runs in London from 12th March to 8th April at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Sadler’s Wells, South Bank Centre and Tate Modern.
Following on from the hugely successful inaugural event in 2022, this iteration of the festival created in partnership with the world-famous French luxury jewellery company features 15 dazzling shows from a whole gamut of different cultures.
Taking place at iconic venues in our capital city, Dance Reflections showcases artists who, in the words of Catherine Renier, President & CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, have specialised in, “Collaborations with prestigious partners, contributions to major choreographic events, support for emerging and touring artists… These various commitments, in keeping with the values of creation, transmission and education dear to the Maison, all meet the same objective of celebrating contemporary choreographic art.”
Including repertory works, dance workshops, artist forums and awareness-raising initiatives, all emphasising the connections between dance heritage and modern choreography, the festival highlights imaginative ways in which dancers have evolved exciting new…
A tribute to the work of one of the fundamental figures of French Modernist painting
After three years in the making, the Amar Gallery is bringing to London Hélène de Beauvoir: The Woman Destroyed, a unique exhibition featuring paintings and works on paper from the 1950s to 1980s by this French artist, crucial to the feminist movement. Often overshadowed in the past by her older sister, Simone – the groundbreaking […]
Despite being separated in time by nearly 200 years, Sigmar Polke felt a deep admiration for Francisco de Goya. The show at Museo del Prado, Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed, explores how the Spanish master influenced the work of the German painter, after he saw for the first time Goya’s Time and the Old Women in […]
The Baroque Dutch painter Frans Hals is considered one of the most innovative artists of his time. His paintings of citizens of Haarlem, where he spent most of his life, were unlike anything else in-period: natural, spontaneous, full of movement and vitality; effects achieved thanks to his incisiveness as an artist and his unique technique of using broad, loose brushstrokes, and the application of the pigment directly onto the canvas.
Born in Antwerp around 1582, Hals’s career developed mostly in Haarlem, at the time of the Dutch Golden Age, where artists thrived in a society driven by trade, science and the arts. He achieved the status of virtuoso, which catapulted him to the level of Rembrandt and Velázquez. Unfortunately, by the 18th century, his fame had faded away. It wasn’t until the 19th century that French art critic and journalist, Théophile Thoré-Bürge rediscovered his work, as well as that of Vermeer.
Left: Malle Babbe, c. 1640. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie. Right: The Lute Player, c. 1623. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Both by Frans Hals.
The 50 works exhibited at the Rijksmuseum highlight the artist’s keen observation and revolutionary approach to capturing the essence of human character. Hals departed from the formal and stoic poses common in the era, opting instead for a more naturalistic and animated style. The show even digs into the identities and social milieus of the people Hals painted, bringing them further into life. Malle Babbe, c.1633-35, for example, is believed to have been a familiar figure on the streets of Hals’ home city of Haarlem, while the man portrayed in Peeckelhaering, 1629, was probably an English actor touring the Netherlands.
The freedom of his style manifested in loose and expressive brushstrokes, combined with a keen understanding of colour, light and shadow. This is probably why Hals is often described as the forerunner of Impressionism. His style influenced Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet, James McNeil Whistler, Claude Monet, Max Liebermann, Vincent van Gogh, John Singer Sargent and others. Almost all of them visited Haarlem to admire his portraits of individuals and civil militia groups, four of which can be admired at this exhibition. They include Hals’s earliest militia painting, Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard, 1616, which has left the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem for the first time.
Probably his most famous painting, Frans Hals’ portrait of this young man is the best example of his ability to convey the mood and expression of his sitters.
Another gem in the show is The Laughing Cavalier, 1624, probably Hals’s most famous painting. This captivating portrayal of a gentleman who seems to be holding back a burst of laughter, encapsulates the artist’s flair for conveying emotion. The black sash demonstrates his extraordinary ability to paint using a limited colour palette, which led Vincent van Gogh to exclaim, “Frans Hals must have had 27 blacks!”
The Rijksmuseum’s Frans Hals exhibition invites visitors to explore the enduring legacy of this innovative artist and how his approach paved the way for future generations of artists, including impressionists and post-impressionists. Most importantly, the dynamic and engaging portraits of Hals continue to resonate with audiences, offering a timeless celebration of the human spirit.
A canvas so vast and so beautiful, the ancient city of AlUla is, by its very nature, a place of extraordinary beauty. Positioned on the ancient Incense Route between Southern Arabia and Egypt, this expansive region spans 200,000 years of human history and features a lush valley, towering sandstone mountains, and heritage sites.
Its most renowned landmark is Hegra, recognised as Saudi Arabia’s inaugural UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ongoing research indicates that this ancient city may have served as the southernmost outpost of the Roman Empire following their conquest of the Nabataeans in 106 CE.
Once an important stopping point for traders of frankincense, myrrh, and other precious commodities, today it is the epicenter of an exciting cultural movement.
Saudi Arabia opened its doors to tourism only five short years ago and Design Space AlUla, located in the AlJadidah Arts District, is the first permanent contemporary gallery space here, dedicated to showcasing the many incredible design initiatives across the region.
Design by Giò Forma Studio, Design Space AlUla is a contemporary building made of steel, glass, and polished concrete.
Designed by the award-winning Milan-based Giò Forma Studio, the breathtaking structure, homage to the traditional breezeblock used widely across buildings in the surrounding area, will open its doors during the AlUla Arts Festival, in February. The welcoming central plaza and courtyard is enhanced by the intricate lattice facade of exposed geometric brickwork, allowing for increased natural light and ventilation throughout the building.
The gallery’s first exhibition, which is set to run from 15th February to 1st June 2024, is called Mawrid: Celebrating Inspired Design, and will showcase the process behind ten recent designs inspired by the city of AlUla.
Sara Ghani, the gallery’s curator, comments, “Design Space AlUla commits to celebrating AlUla’s natural history, its cultural heritage, and vernacular materials – inspiring sustainable futures that are rooted in place.”
The grand opening heralds the start of a continuous exhibition series that will span many design projects, including the renovation of Madrasat Addeera, AlUla’s first arts and design centre, by UK-based Hopkins Architects; Roth Architecture’s Azulik Eco Resort, which draws eco-inspiration from the stories of wind and erosion; SAL Architects’ renovation of the historic Ammar Bin Yasser Mosque, and AlUla’s Cultural Oasis District Masterplan, guided by Prior + Partners, in collaboration with Allies and Morrison.
Other exhibitors will showcase the work of finalists from the second edition of AlUla Design Award; they include Imane Mellah, Teeb, Sara Kanoo, Gunjan Gupta and Shaddah Studio, as well as representation from the first edition of the AlUla Design Residency. The residency is a five-month programme in AlUla that aims to bring together designers and experts on-site to work across multiple disciplines. Their work was showcased at Paris Fashion Week last year.
The exhibition also explores the visual identity for Design Space AlUla created by the Clara Sancho Studio and design agency 29Letters from Madrid. The logo draws on a wide range of regional inspiration, from ancient inscriptions at Jabal Ikmah to the distinctive breezeblocks in AlJadidah.
Ghani explains the purpose of such a wide initiative, “Our ambition is to fuel the design economy, provide resources to designers to explore and experiment, and be a place for visitors to research, explore, and connect with the processes behind AlUla’s design journey.”
The gallery’s launch programme takes place between the 15th – 17th February and will include keynote presentations, masterclasses, workshops, panel discussions and design tours.
AlUla is fast becoming a bucket list favorite. Last year 230,000 tourists were expected, and it’s projected that two million people a year will be visiting by 2035.
The intriguing mystery of our obsession with footwear
It’s safe to say that shoes score top of the list when it comes to attire people are obsessed with. From the infamous Imelda Marcos’ reported 3,000 pairs to Paris Hilton’s 2,000 or NBA player Russell Westbrook’s 1,000, our obsession with footwear seems to date back to Ancient Egypt, where shoes said a lot about where you stood in society.
The Hampshire Cultural Trust holds a remarkable collection of historic shoes and boots, which are the focus of an intriguing exhibition that deals with our fascination for footwear. For starters, shoes say a lot about us; not just status but also line of work, hobbies, taste and even aspirations in life.
Containing around 70 pairs – mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries – Shoes also features several very early objects, including a bone skate from the Anglo-Saxon period (10th–11th century) that was found in Winchester, and four pairs of shoes, a couple with matching pattens, dating from the early 1700s.
Left: Women’s “Flapper” evening shoe, Julienne, France (c.1920s). Right: Women’s shoes, Biba, London (c.1970s).
Among the other objects on display are a WWI officer’s trench boots, early 20th-century clogs and a pair of dance shoes from c.1925 in the flapper style. The second half of the 20th century is represented by 1940s–50s utility wear, 1950s stilettos, brothel creepers and platforms that became synonymous with popular culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Sports footwear is also on display in the form of ice skates, roller skates, and baseball and basketball shoes from the likes of Converse and Nike.
Shoes are not just about how beautiful, sexy or cool they are. How they are made matters, and for this exhibition, some have been x-rayed and those images will be displayed alongside the corresponding objects to reveal their construction, developments in design and, in some cases, an ethereal reminiscence of a life lived.
Left: X-ray of women’s Victorian pearled button boots, Joseph Box, London (c.1890-1900). X-ray courtesy of the University of Southampton. Right: X-ray of Biba women’s shoe. X-ray courtesy of Hampshire Cultural Trust.
High-heel lovers may be surprised to learn that they originated in Assyria around 700 BC on riding boots, coinciding with the invention of the stirrup, enabling male soldiers to sit more firmly in the saddle and hold heavier weapons. Elizabeth I wore them in an effort to emphasise her princely masculinity. In contrast, the traditional cowboy boot – with its stacked leather heel designed to keep riders comfortable throughout long days in the saddle – is an item of workwear that’s redolent of masculinity.
Left: Mary Quant shoes (c.1960s). Right: women’s wedge shoes by John Galliano (c.2020s).
An exhibition about shoes couldn’t ignore the rise of high-end designers, represented here by a pair of studded Christian Louboutin stilettos and a pair of shoes made by the late British fashion icon Mary Quant. Other famous labels featured include John Galliano, Biba and Liberty.
In Venice, Oscar-winning director Sofia Coppola sat down with Pete Carroll to discuss the inspiration behind her upcoming film Priscilla, and why she was drawn to Priscilla Presley’s life story.
Sofia Coppola has always made powerful films that evolve around strong but often isolated and lonely characters whose true personalities and lives are revealed as the movie unfolds. Priscilla Presley, the ex-wife and widow of Elvis Presley – one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century and the king of rock ’n’ roll – absolutely fit that description and, understandably, piqued Coppola’s interest.
“I was just surprised by her story and connected to the fact that it was such an unusual setting,” Coppola says, perhaps alluding to her own atypical upbringing. “I didn’t know she was going to high school when she lived at Graceland. I can’t imagine what that was like. I’m talking about universal things that all women can all relate to, such as going into womanhood or becoming a mother and especially, at her time, being expected to stay at home while men went off, did their own thing and had fun. Just the stress of meeting all those expectations.”
“I’ve always been interested in how people become who they are, and how their identity emerges through the choices they make.”
– Sofia Coppola
MKX
From the beginning it was clear to Coppola that she wanted to tell the story from Priscilla’s point of view and connect with her humanity, not just her celebrity. And the film does exactly that, depicting Priscilla’s loneliness at Graceland – which was not unlike Marie Antoinette’s at Versailles. “I’ve always been interested in how people become who they are, and how their identity emerges through the choices they make,” Coppola says. “So when I was starting to think about this story, I considered whether it would be too similar to Marie Antoinette’s – but I realised that it was a completely different world, and I was curious to find out how Priscilla became herself living in that rarefied context.”
Like most women in the 1970s, Priscilla didn’t have a career or her own money; she was entirely dependent on her husband. “She is from my mother’s generation,” Coppola says. “And I know [she] struggled with trying to have her own creative life.” After pausing for a moment, she adds, “I look at my daughters and think of the difference in the roles of women from the time of my mom to now… but on the other hand, I still see women that totally defer to their husband and what their husband wants.”
Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla.
Casting for Priscilla was a challenge, Coppola says: Priscilla, because she had to carry the entire film; and Elvis, because he’s an icon. “I wanted just one actress to play Priscilla from the ages of 14 to 29, and that’s not easy.” Her team had brought Cailee Spaeny to her attention; and Kirsten Dunst, who had just worked with Spaeny, also recommended her.
Going for an unknown actor can be an advantage in that they don’t have baggage; they come to the audience purely as the character. “Also,” Coppola adds, “it gets tiring to have the same few actors in everything. That often happens because to get financing you need the same five people. Therefore, it was a blessing to be allowed to cast someone like Cailee.”
Choosing the right actor to play Elvis was even more daunting. Since Coppola couldn’t find anyone who looked like him, she went for “the essence of Elvis,” she says. The decision to cast Jacob Elordi was sealed when she met him in a restaurant and all the women turned around to look at him. “I thought he had as much charm and charisma as I imagine Elvis had,” Coppola says. “But I also felt that he had the sensitivity to show the vulnerable Elvis, the person he was in his private life.”
YOU CAN READ THIS INTERVIEW IN FULL IN OUR WINTER ISSUE. GET YOUR COPYHERE.
Priscilla will be released in UK cinemas on 1st January. Her book Archive is available now through Mack Books.
Nan Goldin’s work is not for the faint of heart. The American artist’s raw, intimate photographs began not as an attempt to find recognition or fame, but as a visual diary of her life among her chosen family in Boston, USA, in the early 1970s. For the next 40 years, Goldin continued to chronicle the people around her – performers, friends, lovers and abusers (sometimes one and the same) – as well as her own drug and alcohol addiction and her difficult road to recovery. Her subjects were drawn from her diverse community, and her backdrops were the streets, bedrooms and nightclubs of New York, Berlin, Bangkok and beyond.
This Will Not End Well comprises six slide shows presented in six tent-like structures designed by architect Hala Wardé. “I found a way to make films out of still images,” Goldin said. “Making slide shows gives me the luxury of constantly re-editing to reflect my changing view of the world.” The thousands of photos here – supported by music, voice-overs and archive material – often overlap, resulting in a rich representation of Goldin’s bohemian universe.
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1981–2022) is Goldin’s best-known work. The monumental show has been edited and re-edited many times over the course of her career, so it is never the same twice. Named after a song in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, the 700+ images, together with the soundtrack, pack a huge emotional punch; the ravages of addiction, domestic abuse and the AIDS epidemic are unflinching. The Other Side (1992–2021), named after a gay- and drag-friendly bar in Boston, is an homage to her trans friends, whom she photographed between 1972 and 2010. Fire Leap (2010–2022), the “lightest” of the films, is an ode to the beautiful, wild and free children in Goldin’s life (“Never a mother, always a godmother,” the artist writes in one of the credits).
Sirens (2019–2020) was conceived as a tribute to Donyale Luna, often cited as the first Black supermodel, who died in 1979 of a heroin overdose. Made from found footage, the piece is Goldin’s attempt to portray the ecstasy of a drug high. Memory Lost (2019–2021) is a claustrophobic depiction of withdrawal. And finally, Sisters, Saints and Sibyls (2004–2022) is the story of Goldin’s sister Barbara, who committed suicide in 1965; the piece delves into the many repercussions of that tragedy on Nan Goldin and her family.
For all the darkness depicted in This Will Not End Well, there is in fact a hopeful ending. Goldin has neither rested on her artistic laurels nor succumbed to despondency; she instead wove her sorrow into resistance. In 2017, after her own recovery from opioids, she founded the action group Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (PAIN). And although All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – Laura Poitras’s Academy Award-nominated 2022 documentary about Goldin and PAIN – is not part of this exhibition, it is an important coda, and a testament to Goldin’s resilience, love and dedication to the memory of those she has lost.
The show will be presented at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (October 2024 – March 2025); Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan (October 2025 – February 2026); and Grand Palais, Paris (March – September 2026).
The flame-haired, convivial, and talented British actress Zoe Telford is known for her captivating performances spanning film, television and theatre. When I enquired about her early influences, she charmingly replied, “I went to a lot of local and independent cinemas in my hometown of Norwich and found myself imitating scenes – one of which was from Back to the Future”. Slightly spooky – was this a prediction?
Zoe originally trained at The Central School of Dance from the age of six and continued on that path until she was in her early 20s. Whilst she loved the feeling of entertaining and the non-verbal elements of dance, she found acting to be a wonderful combination of both the physical and cerebral. Zoe’s real breakthrough though came in 2003 when she secured the role of Eva Braun in Hitler: The Rise of Evil, which ultimately led her to working with Woody Allen on Match Point. Since then, she has gone on to win a Special Commendation Award for her role as a beleaguered housewife in the film Greyhawk at the 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Zoe Telford as Dr Kitty Gray and Vinette Robinson as Janet. Episode 5, The Lazarus Project, Season 2.
Her latest venture is the second series of The Lazarus Project, where she plays Dr Kitty Gray a genius astrophysicist building a time machine within the time loop of 2012. Written by Joe Barton and directed by Carl Tibbetts, the first season of The Lazarus Project presents our world locked into a never-ending time loop that will ultimately end with the planet’s complete destruction. The Lazarus team is a secret organisation dedicated to preventing mass extinction events and with the ability to make time go backwards. Its newest agent is George (Paapa Essiedu), who, as the plot thickens, discovers that the cause he is fighting for may be more sinister than it first appeared, and begins to suspect that the only person he can trust is himself.
When Zoe was offered a role in the second season and read the script, she felt immediately drawn to the story. “It is quite a complicated story. There are so many loops – both in time and in the story itself – that I realised I had to watch the first series straight away.”
“The story and my character are so exciting that it was a no-brainer to accept.”
– Zoe Telford
The complexity derives from Joe Bardon’s interpretation of cause and effect when moving or resetting time, factoring in anomalies, such as someone remembering, in this case, the main character, George. But not all is doom and gloom in the show. Bardon injects a healthy dose of humour and irreverence into his writing, which translates into welcome breathers for the viewers, who otherwise find themselves most of the time at the edge of their seat, white-knuckled and holding their breath.
This season introduces a new time-loop, in 2012, where agent Janet (Vinette Robinson) is trapped. This is how we meet Zoe’s character, who seems to be the only one able to return Janet to her time. “The story and my character are so exciting that it was a no-brainer to accept,” Zoe comments smiling.
Apart from all the excitement and trepidation, the show presents interesting speculative thoughts on how science fiction often engages with contemporary issues, delves into profound questions about humanity and trust and warns about the potential cataclysmic consequences of tampering with the fundamental elements of existence.
Season two of The Lazarus Project airs on Sky, on the15th of November 2023.
Now that we live in a world seen more often than not through the lens of a smartphone, it’s hard to know what photographer Helmut Newton, who died in 2004, would make of it all. A new retrospective exhibition in A Coruña, Spain, showcases the works of the provocative photographer, underscoring the genius of his enduring, and often erotic, visual art.
A once-in-a-lifetime visual artist, he not only turned the world of fashion photography on its head but also left an artistic legacy that endures to this day. Not bad for a man who once said, “I hate good taste. It’s the worst thing that can happen to a creative person.”
Whether or not you agree is something to be discussed at dinner parties; but his work is considered so important that a major exhibition has been dedicated to his work.
“I hate good taste. It’s the worst thing that can happen to a creative person.”
– Helmut Newton
Self-Portrait, Monte Carlo, 1993.
Helmut Newton – Fact & Fiction has been created with the Helmut Newton Foundation and curated by Philippe Garner, Matthias Harder and Tim Jefferies; it is the third exhibition from the Marta Ortega Pérez (MOP) Foundation.
Known as “the king of kink,” Newton’s provocative photos – many shot in black and white – were ahead of their time. Often featuring sado-masochistic or fetishized images, they sometimes shocked but always entertained.
Newton was able to take the most famous faces in the world (and anonymous ones, too) and find new and bold stories to tell. Among those featured in the exhibition are actresses Monica Bellucci, Charlotte Rampling and Daryl Hannah, jewellery designer Elsa Peretti (who modelled Halston’s “Bunny” costume in 1975), Jerry Hall and Naomi Campbell, as well as David Bowie, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld.
Those who knew him intimately speak highly of not just his incredible eye for an image, and his work ethic, but the way he treated people both in front of and behind the camera.
Helmut Newton, David Bowie, Monte Carlo, 1982.
Stylist Sascha Lilic worked with Newton for more than a decade. Starting his career as a make-up artist and hair stylist, Lilic was introduced to the photographer on a shoot for French magazine Paris Match in Strasbourg, in the early nineties.
“Helmut Newton girls were not supermodels,” Lilic says. “They were women he liked and they didn’t have to be famous, and they didn’t have to be in the pages of Vogue. For Helmut, beauty had many different faces. He didn’t care if they were old or young, and he didn’t care about fashion. He didn’t give it the importance that everybody else gives it. He just wanted a beautiful picture.”
Lilic recalls styling Monica Bellucci with Newton for Vogue Italia at Karl Lagerfeld’s abandoned mansion in Monte Carlo. The standout photo from that 2001 shoot – of Bellucci dabbing her glossy red lipstick with a tissue – is featured in the exhibition.
“… the Kleenex stuck to her lips, and Helmut, who was always looking at what you were doing, screamed, ‘Stop! Take your hands away!’ I did, and he took the picture…”
– Sascha Lilic
Monica Bellucci, Monte Carlo 2001.
That frame was captured by Newton working on instinct. “I wanted red, glossy, shiny lips and Dior had brought out that lip gloss back in the day,” Lilic says. “It was super-sticky, but it looked like Chinese lacquer. Helmut said we had to take it down because it was reflecting back into the light.
“So, I took a Kleenex and tried to block the lipstick down to take the shine away The lipstick was so lush and sticky that the Kleenex stuck to her lips, and Helmut, who was always looking at what you were doing, screamed, ‘Stop! Take your hands away!’ I did, and he took the picture. It was an incredible moment.”
A visionary, Newton’s aesthetic was born out of Nazi oppression and life as an immigrant. Born Helmut Neustädter to a Jewish family in Berlin in 1920, he began taking photos almost as soon as he could hold a camera. In 1936, he became an apprentice to renowned fashion photographer Yva (Elsie Neuländer-Simon), but just two years later was forced to flee his homeland.
He landed in Singapore, where he found work as a photographer at a local newspaper. However, it wasn’t long before he was interned by the authorities and sent to Australia, where he served in the army for five years. On becoming an Australian citizen, in 1946, his name was changed to Helmut Newton.
“Look, I’m not an intellectual – I just take pictures.”
– Helmut Newton
Charlotte Rampling as Venus in Furs, Paris 1977.
It took 10 years before he landed his first contract for British Vogue, and after that French and Australian Vogue, but by the seventies, his portraits of women in erotic, unconventional and powerfully charged poses had changed the face of fashion photography.
Lilic, whose own family left Yugoslavia for Germany under dictator Tito’s regime, said he bonded with Newton over their early disrupted lives. “We started talking on the day we met about our childhoods and found that we had many things in common. We were both running away from politics. Even though there were two generations between us, we became family. I would often spend time with him and [his wife] June at their home in Monaco.”
It was Newton’s skill at finding extraordinary moments in a way never seen before that propelled him to the top of his profession. While his personal history informed his art, Newton said of his style, “I have always avoided photographing in the studio. A woman does not spend her life sitting or standing in front of a seamless white paper background. Although it makes my life more complicated, I prefer to take my camera out onto the street … places that are out of bounds for photographers have always had a special attraction for me.”
Helmut Newton, Bordighera Details, Italian Vogue, Bordighera, Italy, 1982.
Lilic says he thinks Newton’s artistry was also about giving women control. “He showed how much power women can have over men just by their physicality. I think that’s why it was so different, especially at the time, because nothing like that had been seen.”
Graciously, Newton would always give credit to his wife, June Newton, née Brunell, also known as Alice Springs (after the place of her birth). An actress as well as a gifted photographer in her own right, she met Helmut in 1947 when she posed for him. They were married the following year. “I was lucky to have my wife as the art director – and it turned out to be quite something. A great success. I’m very proud of it,” he once said.
Lilic recalls that on set, Newton would leave to have lunch with June and then return full of ideas. “They would kind of elaborate on a script together. They really did rely on each other.”
Helmut Newton, Karl Lagerfeld, Paris, 1973.
His death was sudden. He had a heart attack driving his car while leaving Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont in January 2004. He was 83. Lilic remembers how shocking it was. “It took me a while to get over it,” he says. “But thinking back, I had something a lot of people will never have and I was very, very lucky to do so. I come from a time of analogue photography, and for 10 years I worked with one of the biggest, if not the biggest, masters of photography that ever lived. That’s something nobody can take away from me.”
We’ll never know if Newton himself would agree with how the world still sees him. He once said, “Look, I’m not an intellectual – I just take pictures.” But what incredible pictures they were.
This fast-paced, nail-biting thriller series by Stephen Garrett, the executive producer behind TV series such as Spooks and The Night Manager and director and screenwriter J Blakeson, self-confessed thriller-addict, tells the story of a crew of elite criminals, who, years after going their separate lives, suddenly start being hunted down one by one by a ruthless assassin.
Although filmed in seven different countries, the action takes the viewer to Italy, the United States, Britain and Norway. The pilot episode kick-starts in Lombardy, where an older guy in a bathrobe is frantically running through a luxurious villa, trying to escape from a masked man, who finally catches up with him at the front of the house and shoots him dead next to his yellow Lamborghini.
From there, we are taken to the U.S.A., where we meet the main protagonist, Joe, played by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (The Night Manager, Candyman, Misfits…), who appears to have a normal life in a suburban town with his husband (Kevin Vidal, from Strays, Workin’ Moms…) and their two children. He has recently purchased a commercial unit to start a business and except for the usual racial harassment by the police, his life, like him, seems as gentle and docile as one could possibly imagine.
Culprits preview trailer:
However, very soon we realise there is more than meets the eye with Joe, as we are shown flashbacks to his previous life in London, where he is the bodyguard of some dubious businessman, whom he saves from an ambush by getting rid of half a dozen men all by himself. Next, we are back to the present and see him going in the middle of the night to a forest nearby – being cut down to make room for a highway – and collecting a hidden bag with an insane amount of sterling pounds in it.
Soon after, another flashback scene introduced us to Dianne (played by Gemma Arterton), a cold and unscrupulous woman who seems to be the mastermind of the heist who somehow, three years into the future, is seeing Joe and his family in mortal danger, together with everyone else involved in that theft.
Gemma Arterton as Dianne, the mastermind of a daring robbery undertaken three years before in London, now having Joe (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) and anybody else involved in it, in mortal danger.
I won’t tell you anymore in order not to spoil the show for you, but I will tell you that the script is ace and the performances of all the actors quite remarkable. Most of them had previously worked with either Garrett, Blakeson or producer Morenike Williams (Killing Eve).
After the preview of the first two episodes, which took place at one of the BFI locations in London, I had the chance to chat to Stephen Garrett, who told me a bit about the casting process. He explained that when the script was written, the team really had no specific names in mind for any of the roles. But when it was completed, he realised that each actor was bringing their own personal flavour and spirit to their character, which made the process very refreshing.
Culprits is available to stream from Disney+ in the UK and Ireland, from Wednesday 8th November.
I’d bring your attention to British actress Kirby (Killing Eve, Why Women Kill, The Sandman…). She plays one of the members of the team that partakes in the heist in London, and I was particularly impressed by her guile and playful finesse.
In the same way that in summer I prefer to go for lighter reads that I can drop and pick up anytime or read while also keeping track of the conversation around me, in winter, I like spending some time exploring books with inspiring stories. This time, I have selected four very different books, which I think are equally interesting and inspiring. I hope you’ll feel tempted to read them.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN’T AFRAID?
In this book, international mentor Michal Oshman embarks the reader on a journey of self-discovery through quite an unusual route. She explores the possibilities that would open to us if we set aside our fears. All of them. Fear of rejection, of change, of failure, of pain… these are all obstacles to our full development and more importantly, they prevent us from living our lives to their maximum potential.
Starting from the premise that we all are needed in this world and that we all have a purpose – regardless of how grandiose or humble that may be – Oshman makes the reader realise how, finding that purpose, is probably the most important thing you’ll ever do.
In this book, Oshman intends for all of us to find the tools that will help us embrace change and move forward, with confidence and faith, rather than fear and regret.
Sharing her own personal experiences, Oshman covers all kinds of subjects that contribute to that state of paralysing fear which, in her view, is what is holding us back. From parenting to relationships, professional career and many other topics, she shows how discovering our potential and purpose are the first steps towards a much more meaningful life.
Michal Oshman is the former Head of Company Culture at TikTok and an International Leadership Development Executive at Facebook. Oshman served as an officer in the Israeli Defence Forces and she has three university degrees in psychodynamic and systemic thinking, sociology and anthropology.
What would you do if you weren’t afraid? is published by DK|Penguin Random House; available from Amazon and Waterstones, among other retailers.
WONDER WOMEN
After the previous book, I think Wonder Women: Redefining Leadership in the World of Work is the perfect follow-up read. In it, you’ll discover fascinating women leading the way in many different fields, from finance to law, engineering, media and other sectors traditionally male-dominated.
Embark on an empowering journey through the pages of “Wonder Women,” a captivating book that shines a spotlight on the remarkable leadership and trailblazing achievements of the most influential female leaders.
Wonder Women introduces the reader to successful, yet relatable women who are redefining leadership in many fields.
The women featured in this book share their personal stories and journeys with their own voices, which I found particularly inspiring and relatable. They also talk about the women who inspired them and as you read, you realise that there is out there a wonderful and powerful group of women who have set aside their fears and embrace the challenges life has put in their path until they achieved their goals.
Excellent examples of inspiring women that you’ll find in this book are Ann Cairns, former Executive Vice Chairman of Mastercard, who has devoted a lot of her time over the decades to achieve gender equality in the corporate world; Pips Bunce, a senior director at Credit Suisse, who works to promote LGBTQIA+ inclusion and has defied every kind of stereotype one could think of in the financial world; and Sarah Khan-Bashir, a second-generation immigrant who has succeeded in building one of the top law firms in the country, overcoming social disadvantage, economic difficulties and religious prejudice.
Men have also interesting and inspiring stories to share. Jan Ryde is the CEO of one of the most luxurious bed brands in the world, Hästens. The business has stayed in the same family for five generations and, under Ryde’s leadership, has gone from moderately successful to global phenomenon. When Ryde took over, he promised himself he’d write a book when the company’s annual turnover reached USD100 million. As he hits his ambitious target last year, he made good on his promise.
If you are thinking this is just another boring demagogic book by a ruthless businessman showing off his talents (History written by the winners and all that), let me tell you that this is not such a book. When Business is Love,The Spirit of Hästens – At Work, At Play, and Everywhere in Your Life tries to reflect the spirit of the company, which Ryde insists is built and run on love.
In When Business is Love, Jan Ryde shares his leadership philosophy and explains how any business, in any field, can operate on the basis of love.
In this story, Ryde bares his soul and candidly shares his childhood and youth with the reader, how he fell in love, how he ended up working in the family business and the journey that took Hästens to be considered the manufacturer of the finest beds in the globe (they sell in 50 markets) and the favourite among Hollywood royalty, real royalty and celebrities of all kinds. Their beds can also be found in the suites of some of the most exclusive hotels worldwide, the latest of which is the uber-luxury cruise ship Regent Seven Seas Grandeur.
Furthermore, the book explains Ryder’s methodology based on establishing a corporate culture that values people, imagination, craftsmanship, and mastery, and that encourages honesty, openness, forgiveness, integrity, humility, and encouragement.
When Business Is Love: The Spirit of Hästens – At Work, At Play, and Everywhere in Your Life is published by Forefront Books, distributed by Simon & Schuster and available to pre-order through Amazon andSimon & Schuster, among other retailers.
SEEING THINGS
My last choice is a very different book from the previous three. It is equally inspiring but instead of communicating its message mostly with words, it does it with images. Seeing Things is a compendium of short stories and Instagram images by writers such as Elif Shafak, Amit Chaudhuri and Elizabeth Day, musicians and singer-songwriters such as David Byrne and Jarvis Cocker, and artists such as cartoonist Roz Chast and visual artist Cornelia Parker, who has also written the foreword.
Seeing Things is a captivating collection of images and very short stories some of which invite to smile and some to reflect.
Edited by the critically acclaimed editor, designer and publisher Julian Rothenstein, with texts by Charles Boyle, the book intends to help us see the small wonders of the world and perhaps, take a pause to pay attention to details that we so easily miss in our manic daily lives. Seeing Things is divided into five sections, starting with “Writers and Books” and finishing with “Creative Places”, a section that gives us an insight into the minds of several of the artists and authors featured in the book.
Seeing Things is published by Redstone Press and available from The Redstone Shop and Blackwell’s among other retailers.
Author: Julia Pasarón
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