A Heartfelt Homage
"The young Frenchman is like no other.
Steeped in the great tradition of the Romantic Hero,
he's a modern-day Julien Sorel, sprung from the pages of Stendhal.
He also has something of the Rimbaudian anti-hero,
torn and tattered by the travails of youthful angst.
Cinema, not only the New Wave of the 1960's,
has greatly contributed to paint a compelling picture of the young Frenchman.
The ribald spirit of Jean-Pierre Léaud in François Trufaut's - The 400 Blows.
The quintessentially French beauty of the young Alain Delon
(the archetypal French bad boy) appropriated
by Michelangelo Antonioni and Luchino Visconti.
The natural swagger of Jean-Paul Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard's - Breathless
gives us a glimpse of his singular character.
The young Frenchman is forever in love, ambiguous and complex.
The young Frenchman isn't necessarily Parisian,
although through sheer perseverance he might indeed end up so.
- Hedi Slimane
(Taken from "Man About Town: Pardon my French - The Paris Issue")
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