LANCÔME CELEBRATES 80 YEARS

This year celebrates 80 years of French elegance as Lancôme celebrates 80 years since its creation by founder Armand Petitjean. To celebrate a film has been made that charts the iconic images that make up Lancôme’s collective memory, a pure aesthetic experience. Ceci n’est pas une rose was dreamt up by the Lancôme House with the help of director Thomas Tyman to honour 80 years of French elegance.

It is this idea of French beauty, and therefore free and happy beauty, that inspired a formal appropriation of Surrealism. In the same spirit as this artistic movement, which was born in Paris a few years before Lancôme, a series of scenes showcases the elements that compose the “House with the rose”, as if in a beautiful dream. Images from the past and present, ambassadresses with red smiles alongside the black and white figure of  Lancôme founder Armand Petitjean, roses and architectural elements, bottles and jewel cases borrowed from the House’s fabulous heritage collection and iconic products from today and tomorrow, interplay throughout the film.

Indeed, Ceci n’est pas une rose is focused on tomorrow, a future backed by 80 years of excellence, 80 years spent listening to women. It is a story that inspires a future in their service. Thus, Isabella Rossellini, the eternal epitome of Lancôme femininity, rubs shoulders with Lupita Nyong’o, the most recent addition to the pantheon of brand muses: so many beauties who play active roles in their eras and who know how to cultivate that extra something that makes them special.

At the same time, the bottle of Flèches, one of the first Lancôme fragrances, comes face to face with that of the latest fragrance, La vie est belle, heir to the know-how of a Master Perfumer, cultivated since 1935, and now the symbol of happy beauty. They all find their place in a dreamlike setting, between a marvellous garden and an architectural fantasy. Heritage meets avant-garde: the craftsmanship of the film also expresses this paradox of Lancôme innovation by using traditional animation techniques to develop a breakthrough style. Each sequence literally unfolds in a real paper theatre, element by element. It took 200 hours of work to hand-cut the 50 elements that compose the various scenes. Assembled on a set measuring 800 square metres, they were animated and filmed in real time in a clever ballet, on a millimetre scale, during a shoot that lasted over 30 hours. More than a brand film, this is a feel-good movie that encourages women to love life with Lancôme… here, now and for a long time.

For more information on Lancôme visit www.lancome.com.au