- “Sorry, do you have any rooms available?”
This quote comes from the film A Man and A Woman (1966), which explores one of life's greatest
emotions: falling in love.
Virginie Viard has always been passionate about cinema - particularly the New Wave - and wanted to pay tribute to Claude Lelouch's masterpiece.
A work that smoulders with sensuality, with that legendary beach scene… the horizon as far as the eye can see… the eternal sea… and, of course, Deauville.
Deauville. The seaside resort where Mademoiselle Chanel opened a hat boutique bearing her name in 1912 and where she presented her first Haute Couture creations in 1913. There are no coincidences… But if they do exist, they are marvellous in terms of intuition, finesse and wisdom, because in the original film, the actress carried a CHANEL handbag during those scenes where love erupts.
This campaign photographed and directed by Inez & Vinoodh repeats almost word for word, shot by shot, some of the film's original sequences, with
Penélope Cruz, a living legend of the film world and CHANEL ambassador since 2018. And Brad Pitt, a cult actor who, with much delicacy, embodies the somewhat daunted, blushing man.
Their characters shudder, traversed by emotion, skin tingling with goosebumps. Penélope Cruz's hand tightens on her bag, discreetly, as if to hide concern. Her fingers caress the quilted leather, we hear the sound of the clasp turning, and notice the chain over the shoulder… Instantly identifiable with its perfect silhouette, modern and rectangular, the iconic CHANEL bag and its impeccable allure that makes it so unique and desirable.
The bag we see in Claude Lelouch's film was actually Anouk Aimée's own bag, her favourite one, which she wore both on and off screen.
Placed on the table in a hotel restaurant, between the man and the woman, the legendary bag symbolises everything that, at some point in our lives, gives us the courage to assert our deepest desires. A unique and special moment. The bag conveys our audacity, the audacity to finally become the heroine of our own lives.
On screen, this legendary bag radiates a fragrance, a trilogy of emotions: fantasy, audacity, freedom. It's as if there were no longer any boundaries between life and fiction.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY INEZ AND VINOODH
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