The best books on cinema to offer

1. A beautiful book about Jeanne Moreau

The immense French actress Jeanne Moreauwho died in 2017, continues to fascinate. And it is not this new book bringing together rare texts and photos and prefaced by Rebecca Marder which will calm the ardor surrounding the actress. Jeanne by Jeanne Moreau paints a portrait of an intense actress, focusing on her career as much as on her life. It includes letters exchanged by Jeanne Moreau and artists such as Pedro Almodóvar, Paul Auster, Louis Malle, Yves Saint Laurent, Delphine Seyrig, François Truffaut and Agnès Varda.

Jeanne by Jeanne Moreau (2023), preface by Rebecca Marder, texts selected and presented by Jean-Claude Bonnet, available from Gallimard editions.

2. Megan Fox’s Poems About Toxic Men

The American actress Megan Fox37, had already flirted with poetry before. Indeed, the heroine of Jennifer’s Body had posted a lyrical text dedicated to her fiancé Machine Gun Kelly in 2021, which she has since deleted. In November 2023, it was not one, but more than 70 poems that she published under the name of Pretty Boys Are Poisonous. The book, touching, dark and full of humor, announces the color from its title. The actress who was married to the actor Brian Austin Green will indeed talk about toxic men in the 200 pages of the book. In a press release, the star explains: “These poems were written in an attempt to exorcise the evil that had taken root in me because of my silence. I have spent my whole life keeping men’s secrets, my body suffers from the weight of their sins.” With this book, the sex symbol further confirms his gothic image, while giving himself a more intellectual veneer than some of his films (Transformers, Ninja Turtles, Expendables 4).

Pretty Boys Are Poisonous (2023) by Megan Fox, available from Gallery Books.

3. Sofia Coppola’s archives

American director, actress, producer and screenwriter Sofia Coppola52, will soon release his new film, Priscillabut to keep you going until then, you can treat yourself to a beautiful book entitled Sofia Coppola Archive: 1999-2023released in September 2023. And it is the perfect gift for the end-of-year holidays. The object, voluminous – 488 pages – and pink in color, has indeed everything coffee table bookespecially since it exists in a version signed by the filmmaker, presented in a box set. Rich in unpublished images, the book takes us behind the scenes of the films of the director with the poetic universe, almost all of which have become cult. It includes in particular shots of Scarlett Johansson et Bill Murray In Lost in Translation (2003), d’Emma Watson In The Bling Ring (2013) and Kirsten Dunst In Virgin Suicides (1999) et Marie Antoinette (2006).

Sofia Coppola Archive: 1999-2023 (2023) by Sofia Coppola, available on the website of Mack Books.

4. Julia Fox’s sulphurous autobiography

Artist, actress (seen in the excellent Uncut Gems of the Safdie brothers), social media star, fashion icon, ex-girlfriend of Kanye West…The 33-year-old Italian-American Julia Fox has a life full enough to fascinate the crowds. His autobiography, Down the Drainreleased in October 2023, is one of the most captivating. Over more than 300 pages, Julia Fox recounts her tumultuous life, from the complicated romantic relationship between her parents to her childhood between Italy and New York, including her relationship with an abusive dealer boyfriend, her job as a dominating mistress and her heroin addiction. The main themes covered in this book are family and friendship, sex and death, love and violence, money and power, but also Kanye West…

Down the Drain (2023) by Julia Fox, available from Fourth Estate.

5. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou Doillon and Jane Birkin photographed by Kate Barry

The photographer Kate Barrywho died in 2013, took magnificent photos, particularly of her family, often taken in Brittany and shot in black and white. In the book Kate Berry. My own spacereleased in 2023 and prefaced by Lola Lafon, we find beautiful images of his mother, the late Jane Birkin and her half-sisters Lou Doillon et Charlotte Gainsbourg. But also of Laetitia Casta and Lou Lesage. Finally, actresses she photographed, such as Emmanuelle Béart, Monica Bellucci, Carla Bruni, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Sophie Marceau, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Chiara Mastroianni and Vanessa Paradis, evoke their memories of the photographer.

Kate Berry. My own space (2023), preface by Lola Lafon, available from La Martinière editions.

6. A book in praise of Catherine Deneuve

This year, the immense actress Catherine Deneuve celebrates its 80th anniversary. Recently featured in the film Bernadettethe icon of French cinema has lost none of its splendor. To celebrate it, the journalists of the magazine So Movie and the publishing house Marabout are releasing a book that tells all her faces and returns to her “controversial feminism” as much as to the secrets of her blond. Entitled Once upon a time there was Deneuvethe 250-page book focuses on many questions such as: “Is it so difficult to embody the face of France in the world?” or “If the devil wears Prada, why does Deneuve wear Saint Laurent?“We also find testimonies from Gilles Jacob, Etienne DahoMarjane Satrapi, Hirokazu Kore-eda or Loïc Prigent.

Once Upon a Time Deneuve (2023) published by Marabout and Sofilm.

7. A book of Polaroids by Winona Ryder

Robert Richformer vice president of public relations for the label Marc Jacobswas close to the actress Winona Ryder, in the late 90s and 2000s. Their friendship gave rise to many Polaroids, now compiled in a book, available on November 30, 2023 on the website of the publishing house Idea Books. The book, simply titled Winonaprefaced by Marc Jacobs, allows us to delve into the intimacy (and the bathroom) of the irresistible icon of the 90s, resurrected by the series Stranger Things. And his looks haven’t aged a bit.

Winona (2023) by Robert Rich, available from Idea Books.

8. An essay on the cult series Buffy

In the test Buffy or the revolt with stakesFrench journalist Marion Olité analyzes the critical and public success of the cult series. Broadcast between 1997 and 2003, the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer told, with a myriad of metaphors (and demons), the throes of the passage to adulthood. The heroine, Buffy Summers (played by the badass American actress Sarah Michelle Gellar), is also seen as a symbol of emancipation against patriarchy. Analyzed by academics, the program is much more than entertainment. For Marion Olité, the series even offers “avenues of reflection to live better together and perhaps even save the world.”

Buffy or the Stake-Bearing Revolt (2023) by Marion Olité, available from Playlist Society.