FILMS DE RÊVE
As lights go off and conversation die dow, from high above a beam of sparkling dust pierces the darkness in a faint and comforting whirr. Since the arrival of a train in La Ciotat in 1895, the immutable ritual has been repeated over and over again throughout the world, followed by crowds of faithful and devoted spectators. And in everyone's imagination pictures on silver screens have replaced the icons of the past.
The paintings of Films de Rêve have been inspired by a common deep-rooted fantasy world commun to all of us. Each and every canvas conjures up an imaginary film featuring the gods and goddesses we all know, the very same who founded the myth of the 7th art form. Like an archeologist of the motion picture, Fanny Beury could almost be suspected of having exhumed forgotten film rushes and dug up unsuspected archives that were never shown to the public, the ones a cinema-lover could only ever have dreamed of. She gives each picture, each story, each movie that never was a true-like identity, with real colours, a genuine dimension, and a very truthful ring to it all in fine.
To discover these imaginary films through Fanny Beury's paintings may well feel like unveiling an unknown side to the history of cinema, unknown because unreal, yet oddly familiar at the same time.
The FILMS DE RÊVE series was completed between 2010 and 2015. It feature 32 paintings shown in exhibitions in 2012, 2013 et 2014 in Paris ( Le Cinéma des Cinéastes, L'Arlequin, le 5 Caumartin, Commune Image).
TV report on FILMS DE REVE in French national morning broadcast
TITLE : MÉNAGE À TROIS
GENRE : Comedy
YEAR : 1956
DIRECTION : Billy Wilder
STARRING : Fanny Silver, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau
SCRIPT BY : Billy Wilder
PRODUCTION : United Artists
SCRIPT : Ron and Mike have been nextdoor neighbours for years. Both bachelors, they’ve become good friends over the years. On a Miami beach, the meet Michele, a French girl who dances in a seedy bar at night saving for tuition fees in a university. To get Michele out of the noxious environment at night - and into their flats, the two buddies offer Michele to move in part time into each apartment.
Oil on linen, 100 x 80 cm, 2010
TITLE : UNDERGROUND KINDERGARTEN
GENRE : Social thriller
YEAR : 2003
DIRECTION : Alan Parker
STARRING : John Hurt, Robert Carlyle, Kathy Burke, Amy Stone
PRODUCTION : Gary Oldman
SYNOPSIS : For 35 years Don Ambridge has been the Head of a kindergarten school based in Hackney, a deprived area of London. He’s had no choice but to tolerate drug-dealing within the school: the traffic gravitates around the tightly-knit community of parents or relatives and seems to be organized by his Deputy Head Emma Sutcliffe. Emma collects the drug on the school weekly day-out and arranges to have it sold to parents, uncles, brothers, aunts and cousins who collect their children at the end of the school day, and who are used as go-betweens.
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Oil on linen, 100 x 80 cm, 2010
TITLE : SILENCE ON PEGASUS
GENRE : War
YEAR : 1956
DIRECTOR : David Lean
STARRING : Albert Finney, David Niven, Philippe Vigneron, Donald Sutherland
SCRIPT : Romain Gary
PRODUCTION : Sam Spiegel and Columbia Pictures
SYNOSPIS : In the night of 5th June, 1944, three Horsa gliders of the 6th Airbourne Division somehow manage to land some fifty yards away from the Bénouville bridge, a stone’s throw from the German army occupying France. Opposite the bridge in the local café, the landlord Gondrée is getting ready to welcome the Brits.
Oil on linen, 100 x 80 cm, 2011
TITLE : FRIENDS INDEED
YEAR : 1957
GENRE : Drama
DIRECTOR : Alfred Hitchcock
STARRING : Montgomery Clift, James Mason, Vivien Leigh, Celeste Holm
MUSIC : Bernard Herrmann
PRODUCTION : Shamley
SYNOPSIS : Martin’s forty and suffers from an incurable disease. Soon there’ll be pain and degeneration until the end. He often claims he wishes he could die before the physical decline becomes unbearable. On his birthday his friends give him the ultimate present: they’ve hired a professional killer to provide a painless end to his life. From Martin’s initial reaction to the present his friends infer that he may not be quite prepared to die after all… or is it the suspicion that they may well have an interest in seeing him dead that makes Martin suddenly so unhinged ?
Oil linen, 100 x 80 cm, 2011
TITLE : KOLKATA CENTRAL
GENRE : Drama
YEAR : 1973
DIRECTION : Satyajit Ray
STARRING : Roshan Kumari (Bindu), Nuta, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi
PRODUCTION : Satyajit Ray
SYNOPSIS : India, 1971. Three years after the opening of Calcutta’s central prison for women, a growing number of detainees seem to develop a strange disease combining the symptoms of clinic depression and those of a brittle bone condition not unlike a premature osteoporosis. At the infirmary, baffled specialists and psychiatrists from all over the country can only observe and record the medical cases as they multiply. A nurse however notices that the mere mention of music and dance seems for a moment to shake the sick women out of their morbid torpor. Bindu the nurse suggests to organise therapeutic sessions of induction to kathak, a traditional dance. The ‘absurd’ idea is dismissed by the medical team of the hospital so Bindu decides to secretly deliver a number of these classes to the detainees. During the sessions, each woman prisoner unveils her own story and strives to come to terms with it. Together they embark on a physical and psychological healing process.
Oil on linen, 80 x 60 cm, 2014
TITLE : UNE HEURE POUR LA VIE (AN HOUR FOR LIFE)
GENRE : Drama
YEAR : 2012
DIRECTION : Alain Resnais
STARRING : André Dussollier, Dominique Blanc
PRODUCTION : Studio Canal
SYNOPSIS : Catherine is approaching sixty, she's tired of being a widow. Armand has recently retired and is determined to put an end to his life as a bachelor. They meet via an Internet dating website and soon decide to see each other, for an hour. Frustrated by ambiguities borne out of their epistolary exchanges and overwhelmed by the tremendous task of giving a comprehensive account of their past lives, they choose to get to know each other by simulating a relationship from beginning to end, over an hour. Instead of each retracing the course of their lives by means of a monologue, they engage into a roleplay, pretending they have spent the last few decades together. Thus they relive their first fluttering moments together, their imaginary wedding, the children they never had, their professional ambitions, how they lost their parents, why they ended up breaking up – everything is unfolded and run through at high speed. As the game progresses, both Catherine and Armand revisist with emotion the significant events of their existence, exposing themselves to the eyes of the other - the stranger to whom it is possible to say just about anything.
Oil on linen, 100 x 80 cm, 2014
TITLE : LAURA B.
GENRE : Drama
YEAR : 1956
DIRECTION : Robert Aldrich
STARRING : Marilyn Monroe (Laura Breaker), Robert Mitchum (James Hutton), Charles Laughton (William Offnung)
SYNOPSIS : Laura wants to be a movie star. She sets off for Hollywood where she meets William Offnung, a semi-retired agent. Both protective and manipulative with the girl, William can only find grotty contracts for Laura for shots in men’s magazines and acts in seedy strip-tease bars. Laura however becomes attached to the old man, in whom she sees a crossover figure of lover and paternal figure - her sugar daddy. They move in together and Offnung falls deeply in love. When Laura is recruited for a part in a major movie production directed by famous director James Hutton, William is overwhelmed with joy and convinced « his princess » is on her way to stardom. The shooting of the movie progresses and the young actress lives up to everyone’s expectations. Hutton is delighted with her performance. When he receives an anonymous envelope embossed « Laura B » and filled with compromising pictures of the young actress, he chooses to ignore it. Rumors about the scandalous past of the young actress start to spread on the set however, and next Hutton receives an envelope with an article in it involving the actress in the murder of an old man...
Oil on linen, 100 x 80 cm, 2013
TITLE : LANKY BUSINESS
GENRE : Comedy
YEAR : 2014
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY : Armando Iannucci
STARRING : Denis Leluc (Inspector Lanky), Steve Coogan (Agent Socks), Peter Capaldi (Agent Eddie), Monia Choukri (Agent Mata Hari)
PRODUCTION : BBC Worldwide Ltd
SYNOPSIS : French Inspector Lanky is sent on a mission to London to work alongside MI6 agents. Presently the capital city is under threat from an international group of terrorists. Aloof, flippant and arrogant, Lanky, who is also a skirt-chaser with an undeniable paranoia, seems more fascinated by spy gadgets and equipment than concerned with the search for terrorists. Soon the office of the British Secret Intelligence Service becomes shambolic and things spin out of control for Lanky !
Oil on linen, 81 x 54 cm, 2014
Enquiries and prices : studiofannybeury@gmail.com
Please note the paintings in the gallery below are no longer available for sale.
