Saint Laurent and Bret Easton Ellis: The Short Film Giving Us Major Chills
The Arrangement, directed by Bret Easton Ellis for the third installment of Saint Laurent’s Self series, is a thrilling representation of obsession and jealousy. Curated by Anthony Vaccarello, the projects leading up to The Arrangement include works by photographer Daido Moriyama and performance artist Vanessa Beecroft.
The film is set in a fantastical world resembling Los Angeles, following an eerie love triangle between beautiful people. The cast is made up of Sean Penn’s son, Hopper Penn, as well as models Tes Linnenkoper and Dakota Lindvall. The drama that ensues on-screen is further heightened by Petula Clark’s rendition of “Windmills of Your Mind.”
On the use of the song and how it perfectly fit into the film’s concept, Ellis explains “The windmills of your mind being the things you project onto a neutral reality when you are trapped within the throes of desire, infatuation can often make the tactile world seem fictional, a fantasy, because it leads us down unexpected paths that don’t conform–that disrupt–our daily reality, and this feeling can be even more intense when you’re young, and so much of the world hasn’t revealed itself to you yet–its starkness, its pragmatism. A utopia is still a possibility, and the purity of love is still an option. And I liked exploring this idea by juxtaposing the elegance of the characters’ world with the turmoil and dreamy confusion they are experiencing.”
If that doesn’t entice you, there’s a chance nothing will. Check out the three-minute film for yourself below.
