Synopsis
One of the most distinctive war photographers of her generation, Christine Spengler covered conflicts in Chad, Cambodia, Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Iran. Her black-and-white work focuses less on the spectacle of war than on the people who live through it.
In The Spenglers, Philippe Vallois offers an intimate portrait of a woman whose life and work were shaped by conflict. Between Paris, Ibiza and Lebanon, the film looks back at her career as a photojournalist, her images, and a complex family history marked by her relationship with her mother, the artist Huguette Spengler, and by the death of her brother Éric.
Archives, memories and conversations gradually reveal the many sides of Christine Spengler. The film follows Spengler from her work as a photographer in war zones to her later practice as an artist, leaving behind the black and white of reportage for vivid, colourful photomontages. Photography, memory and family history echo one another throughout this deeply personal portrait.
What you will find in this film
Christine Spengler, war photographer · Photographing conflict without sensationalism · Searching for peace in the midst of war · Photography as a way to bear witness, survive and transform memory
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Further exploration
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Anne-Marie Beckmann & Felicity Korn (eds.) – Women War Photographers: From Lee Miller to Anja Niedringhaus, Prestel, 2019. (English) – The most directly relevant English-language reference: Christine Spengler is presented alongside Gerda Taro, Lee Miller, Catherine Leroy, Françoise Demulder, Susan Meiselas, Carolyn Cole and Anja Niedringhaus, offering a broader history of women photographing war.
Susan Sontag – Regarding the Pain of Others, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. (English) – A fundamental essay on how photographs of war and suffering are produced, viewed and remembered; particularly relevant to Spengler’s refusal of spectacular violence and her attention to civilians.
Caroline Brothers – War and Photography: A Cultural History, Routledge, 1997. (English) – A major study of the relationship between photography, warfare and the media, useful for situating Spengler’s practice within the broader history of twentieth-century conflict photography.
Barbie Zelizer – About to Die: How News Images Move the Public, Oxford University Press, 2010. (English) – Examines how images of violence and imminent death function within journalism and collective memory, extending the film’s questions about what war photography chooses to reveal or withhold.
Christine Spengler – Années de guerre 1970–2002, Marval, 2003. (French) – Although no English edition appears to have been published, this is the most important monograph for an international audience wishing to encounter Spengler’s war photography directly. It brings together work from several decades of conflict reporting and is therefore especially valuable as a visual companion to the film.
Jeffrey H. Ladd – “War Photographer: Between Shadow and Light” – LensCulture – interview / critical feature. One of the most substantial English-language resources devoted specifically to Spengler, addressing her experiences in war zones and the relationship between personal history and photographic practice. Free access.
Haleh Anvari – “When Women Photographers Went to War” – Aperture, 20 November 2019 – critical essay. Places Spengler alongside Gerda Taro, Lee Miller, Catherine Leroy, Françoise Demulder, Susan Meiselas and other women photographers while examining gender, access and representations of conflict. Free access.
Edward Siddons – “A bride waving a flag in bombed-out Beirut: Christine Spengler’s best photograph” – The Guardian, 4 August 2021 – interview / image analysis. Through The Lebanese Bride, Spengler discusses Beirut, memory, destruction and her approach to the people she photographs. Free access.
Carmen Fernandez – “Christine Spengler” – AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions – reference article. A rigorous introduction to Spengler’s photojournalism, her avoidance of sensational imagery and her later colour photomontages. Free access.
“Ethical Content-Gathering for Public Communications” – International Committee of the Red Cross, 2024 – reference article. A useful framework for considering consent, dignity, vulnerability and the representation of people affected by war—questions that resonate strongly with Spengler’s photographic practice. Free access.
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