Romy Schneider exhibition at the Paris Cinémathèque – Culture

As soon as you come in you can hear the music. Further back in the Romy Schneider exhibition, which runs until the end of July at the Paris Cinémathèque, is an excerpt from “The Things of Life”, one of the most beautiful and sad films by Claude Sautet, which begins with the tragic end , a car accident. Romy Schneider sings “La Chanson d’Hélène” in French with her bright, soft voice. She sings about a love that no longer exists, a book that is now closed, about the sun that will never shine in a room again. Anyone who knows the song knows the mood it throws you into. You are immediately seized upon entering

The exhibition tells chronologically the life of actress Romy Schneider after, in pictures and short film excerpts, original pieces of clothing and letters are interspersed here and there. From a German point of view, however, that is unusual. Because what the French exhibition organizers leave out, and completely, is the private life of this woman, who is so readily sold as a tragic heroine in this country, who suffered terribly from having played in the charming homeland kitsch “Sissi” as a teenager, then disappeared into dangerously adult love life from Paris, but did not find “happiness” there either, and eventually died of “a broken heart”. So have we Colorful and Listen drilled into. How nice not to be told the private things here. Of course you can understand why she went to France, where she was first and foremost taken seriously as an actress.

What speaks against the exhibition from a German-speaking point of view is that not the slightest effort was made to write German terms here. “Liebelei”, as Schnitzler’s piece is called, on which the Romy Schneider film “Christine” is based (where she met Alain Delon, whom she personally discovered and suggested for his role based on a photo), is consistently used on the captions Written “Libelei”, Berlin-Grunewald, where Romy Schneider once lived, became Berlin-Grünewald. Such mistakes are of course always incredibly embarrassing.

She looks so contemporary, it’s hard to believe that some of the photos are 60 years old

Which is also very strange, but by no means (in the literal sense) a specialty of this exhibition: how the clothes that Romy Schneider once wore are presented. It doesn’t just hang on the hanger, as you know it from clothes that nobody is wearing at the moment. Rather, it is formed, stretches, so to speak, over an absent body. Where there used to be breasts, the fabric bulges, there is a hat, there is space for an invisible neck and head. It’s like a ghost train. In any case, what can be said with absolute certainty: Romy Schneider was a petite woman of no more than 1.60 meters.

Perhaps the most beautiful thing about the exhibition are the fragments from the unfinished film “L’Enfer” (“Hell”) by Henri-Georges Clouzot from 1964. Romy Schneider, then 26 years old, played the leading role and at the same time only an object: The film should tell about the jealousy of her film husband. It was never completed because the director didn’t stick to the shooting schedule, the lead actor quit, the director finally had a heart attack (he survived). The shots he shot, mostly light tests, are stunning though because they look so fresh and new, like they were from yesterday afternoon. Romy Schneider waterskis or drinks from a glass or just laughs, and changing light strokes her regular facial features from different angles: She looks so modern, so alive that it is hard to believe that these photos are almost 60 years old .

Open detailed view

Romy Schneider’s relationship to her sensuality, her physicality is also addressed. She was recently seen naked in almost every one of her films, says the accompanying photo description, and deliberately posed naked for some photographers in order to have the authority to interpret her body, so to speak. At this point the exhibition is almost over. You can already see the curtain leading to the exit, knowing that in the chronology of events her son dies in an accident and she herself dies less than a year later. But here they take the time to calmly show a few nude photos of Romy Schneider, who is self-confident and beautiful in them and is absolutely aware of her effect. “The Liberated Body” is the headline. A few more photos from her last film, “The Walker from Sans-Souci” follow, and then the exhibition is over. It’s a French exhibition, and that’s the good thing about it.

Romy Schneider. Cinematheque Française, Paris. Until July 31st. The catalog costs 35 euros.