Bettina Rheims, My Life

  • Germany
  • 2005
  • fr
  • en
  • 43'

Bettina Rheims opens the doors of her studio in the Marais to us. We discover the famous photographer taking the time to reassure her model, and her need to set a slow pace. She looks back on her childhood, her photographic satori and everything that photography means to her. In counterpoint, Serge Bramly, writer and faithful collaborator, delivers his confessions on Bettina's beginnings and elucidates her diverse body of work as a whole. From the conception of a new book, to the thrill of discovering the first photographic prints, to the opening of her grand retrospective in Düsseldorf, we follow Bettina, who shares her views on her works.

Bettina Rheims, My Life
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Synopsis

Bettina Rheims opens the doors of her studio in the Marais to us. We discover the famous photographer taking the time to reassure her model, and her need to set a slow pace. She looks back on her childhood, her photographic satori and everything that photography means to her. In counterpoint, Serge Bramly, writer and faithful collaborator, delivers his confessions on Bettina's beginnings and elucidates her diverse body of work as a whole. From the conception of a new book, to the thrill of discovering the first photographic prints, to the opening of her grand retrospective in Düsseldorf, we follow Bettina, who shares her views on her works.

What you will find in this film

Bettina Rheims' studio in Paris • Her work with models • Her quest for beauty • How a good photo is born • Her first photographic work • Serge Bramly's analysis • The secrets of her most loyal collaborator • The discovery of enlargements with her printer • The links between her photography and death • The legendary photo shoot with Catherine Deneuve • Backstage at her Shanghai series • Her views of the grand retrospective of her work in Düsseldorf

The passage from life to death is no longer than the moment of photography. You go from before to after in an extremely short space of time.

Film chapters

summary00:00 The most important: beauty

summary09:40 A perpetual imbalance

summary18:38 The shoot, conflicting emotions

summary28:55 Privacy and death

summary37:03 In the viewfinder, life

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Further exploration

Bibliography

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• DÉTENUES - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Nadeije Laneyrie-Dagen ; introduction: Robert Badinter ; 2018 ; Gallimard ; French

• BETTINA RHEIMS: CO - directed by Patrick Remy ; 2017 Taschen ; multilingual

GENDER STUDIES - artist: Bettina Rheims ; 2014 ; Steidl Verlag 

• ROSE, C’EST PARIS - authors: Bettina Rheims, Serge Bramly and Thierry Grillet ; exhibition catalogue presented at the Bibliothèque nationale de France ; 2010 ; Taschen France ; trilingual edition

• CHAMBRE CLOSE - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 2007 ; Schirmer Mosel 

• SHANGHAÏ - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 2004 ; PowerHouse Books

• FEMALE TROUBLE - artist: Bettina Rheims ; introduction: Catherine Deneuve ; 2002 ; Schirmer Mosel 

• I.N.R.I. - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 1999 ; The Monacelli Press 

• ANIMAL - artist: Bettina Rheims ; author: Serge Bramly ; 1998 ; Gina Kehayoff Verlag

• MODERN LOVERS - artist: Bettina Rheims ; 1998 ; Edition Braus