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15 reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful
I watched this documentary on PBS last night (12/15/2010)!
16 Dec 2010
Paris: the Luminous Years is a beautiful way to learn about the art movements of the early 20th century. Interviews of surviving artists and writers, historians and biographers, in both English and French, added to my understanding of the time and place in which some of my favorite artists & writers lived. Conversations with Sylvia Beach are interspersed throughout, adding her opinions and memories to the mix; Miss Beach, her bookshop, Shakespeare and Co. and the city of Paris are characters in this story. Ernest Hemingway, Aaron Copeland, Picasso, and many more are quoted throughout. Their friendships, the art, politics, theatre, music, economics and, of course, the Paris of the early 20th century are thoroughly discussed from many viewpoints. I would enjoy even more period footage and conversation around this important era.
Paris: Luminous Years is lovely to watch and listen to. I am purchasing the DVD to enjoy at my leisure when I need creative encouragement or a tour of Paris during those important and "luminous years".
Paris: Luminous Years is lovely to watch and listen to. I am purchasing the DVD to enjoy at my leisure when I need creative encouragement or a tour of Paris during those important and "luminous years".
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Love Paris, Always!
21 Dec 2010
Where is the artist capital of the world today where artists and free-spirits like Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Beach, Janet Flanner, and others fled the oppression of American society in post-World War I America? There is perhaps no better time to be an American in Paris than between 1905 and 1930. I saw this on late last night on PBS and I can't believe that I can purchase the DVD so quickly.
The two hour documentary has fused a combination of old Parisian footage and contemporary scenes today. As somebody who came late to understanding how Paris influenced artists, this documentary doesn't speak down to those who are not educated, enlightened, or unaware of the city's history. On the contrary, the people in this documentary speak to you as an audience. Maybe that's the difference.
Oh yes, not everything was perfect between 1905 and 1930 in Paris, France. There was the First World War and the aftermath of the gay 1920s when Parisians and the expatriates felt good to be alive. This documentary shows life before, during, and after the war. They are unaware of what's to come in 1939. Anyway, I felt that one person was missing from this DVD and that was the amazon herself, Natalie Clifford Barney, who was an American socialite and expatriate who also offered salons on par with Gertrude Stein and her partner, Alice B. Toklas.
I love watching Janet Flanner in anything and she was the voice of Paris for 50 years for the New Yorker. It was my interest in Janet "Genet" Flanner's writings that led me to her Paris during the renaissance period where art, culture, literature, and politics was not only discussed but argued with passion and fervor during this great time period. We may never see the likes of the great artists of the lost generation again. Paris is now too expensive for the starving artists. The situation in Paris was a perfect storm of affordability and desire to experiment life beyond the norms of convention.
The artists whether writers, dancers, painters, sculptors, or performers sought to create new art or redefine convention. They have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because we are still talking and writing about them. God Bless those artists whereever they are now.
The two hour documentary has fused a combination of old Parisian footage and contemporary scenes today. As somebody who came late to understanding how Paris influenced artists, this documentary doesn't speak down to those who are not educated, enlightened, or unaware of the city's history. On the contrary, the people in this documentary speak to you as an audience. Maybe that's the difference.
Oh yes, not everything was perfect between 1905 and 1930 in Paris, France. There was the First World War and the aftermath of the gay 1920s when Parisians and the expatriates felt good to be alive. This documentary shows life before, during, and after the war. They are unaware of what's to come in 1939. Anyway, I felt that one person was missing from this DVD and that was the amazon herself, Natalie Clifford Barney, who was an American socialite and expatriate who also offered salons on par with Gertrude Stein and her partner, Alice B. Toklas.
I love watching Janet Flanner in anything and she was the voice of Paris for 50 years for the New Yorker. It was my interest in Janet "Genet" Flanner's writings that led me to her Paris during the renaissance period where art, culture, literature, and politics was not only discussed but argued with passion and fervor during this great time period. We may never see the likes of the great artists of the lost generation again. Paris is now too expensive for the starving artists. The situation in Paris was a perfect storm of affordability and desire to experiment life beyond the norms of convention.
The artists whether writers, dancers, painters, sculptors, or performers sought to create new art or redefine convention. They have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because we are still talking and writing about them. God Bless those artists whereever they are now.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful survey of the Birth of the Moderne
19 Dec 2010
Caught the tail end of this on PBS this weekend (another hats-off to this much maligned in modern times network): a lovely and plangent period piece. Amazing to think that with scars fresh from the horrors of the Somme and Verdun, that a society could regenerate it's elan and love of culture with such profound and lasting effect. Interesting to see too the impact of Americans just learning to come to grips with the world abroad. Indeed, this is the Paris that most current tourists - and throngs of US students abroad - long to see - alas only the echos remain.
No doubt this a nostaligic, soft focus piece - it largely ignores the vast rifts in French society, the trauma of shattered families and infrastructure left behind by the Great War, and the brooding political events that were to keep winding the spring that set the clock for WWII.
Would definitely recommend this for anyone studying 20th C literature and culture. Some fantastic filmed interviews (probably from the 50's). Also too, to anyone interested in the broad impact that African American art and music has had on world culture.
PS: This is very approachable, not snooty or high culture at all - a perfect trigger for further exploration, whether it is on the streets of Montparnasse, the pages of Hemingway, Joyce or Stein, the an iTunes download of Satie, or a Sunday stroll to your local art museum. Formidable et tres charmant!
No doubt this a nostaligic, soft focus piece - it largely ignores the vast rifts in French society, the trauma of shattered families and infrastructure left behind by the Great War, and the brooding political events that were to keep winding the spring that set the clock for WWII.
Would definitely recommend this for anyone studying 20th C literature and culture. Some fantastic filmed interviews (probably from the 50's). Also too, to anyone interested in the broad impact that African American art and music has had on world culture.
PS: This is very approachable, not snooty or high culture at all - a perfect trigger for further exploration, whether it is on the streets of Montparnasse, the pages of Hemingway, Joyce or Stein, the an iTunes download of Satie, or a Sunday stroll to your local art museum. Formidable et tres charmant!
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