Project Cinema (10): Valerie

Another guest-selection, this time my longtime pal Erwin muses on Valerie Lagrange:

Valerie Lagrange (born Danièle Chadelaud) never played world renowned leading parts in her long lasting cinematic career. Though she appeared in some classic films, notably Fellini’s Satyricon, Godards’ Weekend, Rosine’s Les Idoles and – great acting - Un Homme et une Femme by Claude Lelouch. Lagrange also sang Gainsbourg, stood on the barricades in may 1968, has in short a long and ongoing history of re-inventing herself (thanks to Biolay).

La Folie. This tune first entered my life whilst doing homework on the odd Tuesday afternoon, mid 1980’s; back then to me it seemed to echo the complete state of boredom the world had been in ever since high school began; that quaint Fender Rhodes-motif flashlighting between a slaughtering beat droning from the one brain half to the other, this bleaky funk rhythm guitar lost in a forest of Korg, Roland and Linn Drum…wake up man, this is the eighties! I bought the 7-inch single later on a jumble sale, grey sleeve, grey label – a souvenir of grey days indeed.
She sings coolly about this girl from the city who thinks she has all the answers, life in the fast lane, doing drugs, crazy stuff, you know. Some coked sax playing, mind you. Who’s that girl anyway? The dreary image I had turned into something completely different when I witnessed a group of ‘beautiful’ people living it up one night to this song played in an Italian discotheque, amongst them the topic of La Folie, you know, Alizée in Wonderland. Now it’s not grey anymore, it’s party time!

Valerie Lagrange - La Folie

More Valerie, thanks to Skunkeye:

Valerie Lagrange - La Prière (George Brassens-cover)
Valerie Lagrange - Mon Amour Pour Toi