This French spot begins with a young man pressing a doorbell button. Answering the front door is another gent–along with a cast of assorted others who appear stuffed into an apartment entry way. In some respects, it’s reminiscent of the crowded ocean liner stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers’ classic A Night At The Opera. But unlike that film, the people in this spot don’t come tumbling out once the door is open. Instead, they need to be climbed over and represent but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
The man who rang the doorbell is there in response to an ad about sharing an apartment, not knowing exactly how many people he’d have as fellow residents. Turns out it looks like a cast of hundreds as the guy who answered the door takes him on a tour of the accommodations.
Both tour guide and guest make their way over a mound of humanity to get to the living room, which is beyond standing room only. Next we are taken to the bathroom where naked men and women are shoehorned into a communal shower, scrubbing and soaping one another. Then we get a look-see at the kitchen where people are perched on one another’s shoulders, some having a meal, others just hanging out. And finally our tour guide proudly points to the laundry room’s washing machine. Never mind the fact that people are stacked up on one another in the room–the stand-out attraction is the washing machine which a super informs us has 7kg capacity and is only 40cm. Indeed there’s no better space saver than a Brandt washing machine.
Titled “La Colocation” (which in English translates to “Apartment Sharing”) this spot was directed by Keith Bearden via Mister Hyde, Paris, for agency DDB, Paris. (Bearden is repped in the U.S. by Good Films, New York)
The DDB creative team consisted of creative directors Alexandre Herve and Sylvain Thirache, copywriter Fabien Teichner, art director Faustin Dlaverie and producer Dominique Porte.
Herve Lopez executive produced for Mister Hyde. The DP was Nathaniel Aron.
Editor was Nicholas Isabey of Editors, Paris.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More