Exhibition Hollywood, la cité des femmes (Hollywood, the City of Women) is on the bill at the Chapelle du Méjan in Arles traces, through about fifty portraits, the careers of these exceptional women.
Between 1930 and 1955, Hollywood was dominated by men. In the great days of studios, the industry mobilized armies of make-up artists, hair-stylists, and costume designers for their stars. The producers chose their stage names and decided on their hair color. However, inside this citadel governed by men, actresses, as artists and women, showed their undeniable capacity to take power, or to oppose it with an indelible presence, creating their myth. In films, it was, in fact, the women who held the dominant position: Bette Davis unloads her revolver into the lover who left her, Barbara Stanwyck leaves without turning around to see the speakeasy where her pimp of a father is on fire. The exhibition sheds light on Barbara Stanwyck, Sylvia Sidney, Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor, Constance Bennett, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe…
While the studios were fabricating stereotypes entrenched in masculine heroism and sensual femininity, many great actresses forcefully imposed a more ambiguous or more nuanced sexual identity, which changed the nature of films and allowed them to give another perspective on women. These actresses’ extraordinary film personalities were no less reflections of their own destinies. The efforts and sacrifices they made to succeed (tied to studios under unconscionable contracts) awarded them with a presence and intensity on screen, often making the men surrounding them appear characterless.
Hollywood, la cité des femmes
From January 21 through March 26, 2017
Chapelle du Méjan
Place Nina-Berberova
13200 Arles
France
Book published by Actes Sud – 59€
http://www.actes-sud.fr/catalogue/cinema/hollywood-la-cite-des-femmes
