Romynation...

This attractive German actress was one of the most well known women of her generation. I chose this picture because it shocked me. When I saw this photo for the first time, I wondered what had happened to her. At first she appears to be dreaming but if you look closer she is in fact worried about something.

First, there is no colour. It’s just a picture in black and white. The dramatic side of this image is stressed by the nuances of the photo. The background is empty and white. I guess she is in front of a wall with a window but we can’t see what room it is, maybe the kitchen or the living room.

Then look at Romy. When I saw her, I couldn’t believe it was her. I couldn’t recognize her. She is so attractive, normally.

Her glance is cold, hard and empty. Her hair is pulled back, which lets us see her wrinkled forehead. She isn’t smiling. She doesn’t even look at the camera. Her face and even her soul seem to be broken.

Her glance seems to say: “What do you expect of me? Am I not pretty enough? Will you cheat on me like the others have? I will never trust you, I’m too afraid of you. Leave me alone, please...”

I remember some photos of her. She was always smiling and, as she was afraid of getting old, she made herself appear young and attractive. It’s not really the case in this photo. I get the impression that someone took the picture without her consent.

Her head rests on the palm of her hand and the right side of her head is hidden in the shadow of her hand. She is holding a lighted cigarette. Her hand is wrinkled like her forehead.

In this photo, Romy is not very old. She’s only in her early forties. However, she looks old and psychologically worn out, desperate, completely lost.

This photo was taken the year before her death. She was depressed. She didn’t have a very good life. Each time that she was happy, something happened and she fell back into depression again: her past in Germany, her mother who flirted with Nazism, her separation with Alain Delon, the suicide of her husband, the death of her son at the age of fifteen...

Behind her status as a star and her beauty, she was depressed all of her life and fell into alcoholism and drugs. Now we can understand why this woman seems so cold and distant.

Article by Marylou Hebrard