PREFACE
To be an actor is to embark on a journey: to explore different characters; to immerse oneself in stories; to travel through space and time. Now and again, I stop off in the real world, step back into my own shoes, reconnect with my own life, and return to being John Malkovich. This particular role will doubtless be the longest of my career. I have all the time in the world. Perhaps our paths will cross. Why I am Inside John Malkovich
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October 16,
My dear young lady, I confirm that I have received the passages from your father’s diary that you sent to me. They take me back so many years… I do, indeed, remember meeting him. It was the Normandie’s maiden voyage across the Atlantic. There was an incredible sense of excitement on board! So many beautiful things gathered together on that splendid ship! So much luxury on board at a time when both sides of the Atlantic were suffering from the Great Depression! There was something magical yet insolent about that crossing... 1973
LETTER FROM EILEEN
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Both of us were young. Your father was charming, enthusiastic. He never tired of sharing his admiration for Dunand’s enormous lacquered panels decorating the Normandie’s main lounges: “Fishing,” “Sports,” yet “The Harvest” was his favourite. He said that grapes were life and love.
It’s true that those panels were magnificent, full of energy, primitive yet sophisticated, like cave paintings. I introduced him to a French cognac called Louis XIII. October 16, 1973
The Normandie had already acquired legendary status - and Louis XIII as well. Louis XIII, the exaltedfavouriteocean-liner-setters’cognac,inBaccaratcrystalTherereignedinthisplace,atcertaintimes,aserenityandanelegant,sensualdelightwell-suitedtotheirself-indulgentenjoymentofLouisXIII. … that unknown young man whom she initiated into the magic of Louis XIII in her own inimitable way.
History & Archives
Christened “Normandie," the perfume was presented in a bottle designed by Louis Süe - a limited edition of 500. Perhaps Eileen, the heroine of our story, wore this perfume on the night she met that unknown young man, whom she initiated into the magic of Louis XIII in her own inimitable way.
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On May 29, 1935, when the Normandie glided out of the Le Havre docks to the cheers of a huge crowd for its maiden Atlantic crossing from France to New York via Southampton, the passenger ship had already acquired legendary status – and Louis XIII as well. The ship was about to become the world’s fastest ocean liner by completing the transatlantic crossing in just 4 days, 3 hours and 5 minutes at an average speed of almost 30 knots. This record would subsequently earn it the prestigious Blue Riband trophy. By its sheer size, this superliner went beyond the dreams of ‘floating cities’ ever imagined before: 313 metres from prow to stern, 36 in width, and 5 floors of cabins to accommodate its 2,200 passengers. But all these tangible signs of exceptional industrial know-how were exclusively focused on realising the Normandie’s one and only ambition: to be the most brilliant seafaring showcase for French luxury, taste and art de vivre at the peak of its glory. Streamline moderne, the iconic style that emerged in the 1930s, had found its masterpiece! Never had the expression ‘First Class’ been so appropriate. The list of passengers, handed out during their embarkation, read like a Who’s Who of prominent individuals: the illustrious member of an Indian royal family, Hollywood’s most celebrated European film star, any number of European aristocrats, famous artists and the most famous female author of the 1930s, millionaire businessmen, Pulitzer Prize winners, and the most admired fashion designer of the time, etc.
‘First Class’ is where Louis XIII is in its natural element. Every member of this exclusive circle had his or her own way of enjoying it. In the Reading Room, passengers would hesitate, a glass in their hand, between immersing themselves in that day’s newspaper freshly printed on board and, alternatively, losing themselves in the fabulous bestiary of Paul Jouve’s animal paintings.
LOUIS XIII COGNAC AND THE OCEAN-LINER-SETTERS.
In the morning, on the still almost deserted decks, you could encounter fashion models jogging earnestly in groups of two or three. In New York, they would present, before an audience of 7,000 on board the liner, the latest creations of the major Parisian fashion houses represented on the voyage: Jeanne Lanvin, but also Maggy Rouff, Jenny, Worth, Lucien Lelong and Madeleine Vionnet.
TThe more traditional members of this elite would relish every instant, like a ritual designed to prolong their meal in the long and lofty basilica of the Dining Room. Along the translucent walls, the twelve towers of light installed by the glassmaker René Lalique, like an array of frosted crystal organs, cast their halo over this secret ceremony. But it was the Grand Salon with its giant vases of hammered pewter made by Maurice Daurat and the Smoking Room with Jean Dunand’s lacquer panels designed by Jean Dupas, that won the favours of the enthusiastic lovers (and loving enthusiasts!) of the cognac of “age unknown.” There reigned in this place, at certain times, a serenity and an elegant, sensual delight well-suited to their selfindulgent enjoyment of Louis XIII. They would then be carried away in its fragrance and aromas.
A world-renowned fashion designer gave his name to a perfume to be offered to the firstclass passengers of this maiden crossing.
To this wealthy and versatile clientele (sometimes styled the ‘Ocean-Liner Set’ in anticipation of what would later be known as the ‘Jet Set’), the Atlantic crossing aboard the Normandie offered an offshore hiatus set apart from the ordinary flow of time, a carefree moment of refined delights. Their setting was composed of the finest examples of French decorative art of the 1930s, original creations by designers and fashion houses celebrated for their unparalleled quality. Wrought ironwork by Raymond Subes, Aubusson tapestries, Daum glass, Christofle and Ercuis cutlery and tableware: the list is as long as it is dazzling. Louis XIII, the ocean-liner-setters’ favourite cognac, exalted in Baccarat crystal, belonged to this coterie of exclusive suppliers.
29 Swimming pool bar in first class, on board the SS Normandie, 1935
212 I ofanotherdiscoveredhavekindTime , an intimate Time made up sensationsof , emotions and memory
213 by Count R. de M.-S, the Ambassador Extraordinary of Louis XIII to the Other Universes in year serial number BG37 of spatio-temporal fracture No. 13+++. Message No.4. TIME CRUISERS
215 Temporis Cityisinhabitedby detovederasevilelohc“lock-men.”TheirwotehterutcafunamemiTfo, llacrublfomrofaaoingforarigidlyhierarchicalorganisation.
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223 a moment of eternity
224 Year serial number BG37 is coming to an end and we must emerge from spatiotemporal fracture No. 13+++. If all goes well, we will return to the Inverted Universe in the coming (or departing) months; everything depends on the temporal slope. The Supreme Secretary has ordered a series of special editions of Louis XIII, which he has named the “Cycle of New Time.” Temporis is getting ready for some big changes. I suggest that we welcome the Prince TickTock of the Big Hand to the Louis XIII Society. He would be our first member from the Inverted Universe… and proof that the Time of Louis XIII is boundless.
