BBC Films has commissioned production on a new documentary on Grace Jones from director Sophie Fiennes, the first of its kind. Described as an observational portrait, the feature film is titled “Grace Jones – The Musical of My Life,” and it’ll weave a multi-narrative journey through the private and public realms of the legendary singer and performer, mixing intimate personal footage with unique staged musical sequences.
Incredibly, this will be the first comprehensive feature film (fiction or non-fiction) on the personal and professional life of Grace Jones.
A 2017 premiere date can be expected.
BBC Films join the BFI Film Fund and the Irish Film Board as co-financers.
While we wait for the finished film, here’s her classic and totally original French TV commercial for the French car, the Citroën CX.
Unless you live in Europe, you may have never heard of the car. Though it was a popular foreign model in the U.S. during the 1960’s, the car hasn’t been sold in the U.S. for over 40 years. That’s because, back in 1974, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officially prohibited passenger vehicles with height-adjustable suspension in this country.
What that simply means is that, the driver can actually adjust how high or low the car is from the ground for better handling and fuel economy. If you’ve seen a Citroën on the street, most of the time it looks like it’s barely a few inches from the ground.
But overseas, the CX, which was first introduced in 1974, was a huge success for a while. However by the mid-80’s, sales were slipping, so the company employed Grace Jones and her then lover and artist/designer/film director, Jean-Paul Goude, to create a new TV campaign for their then new CX GTI Turbo model, which you can watch below for yourself.
For a 45 second spot, its bold and striking, and, at the time, there hadn’t been another car commercial like it, nor has there been anything like it since then. In fact, the commercial was actually banned in several countries because of what they deemed “excessive speeding.” Though I suspect, most likely, that the strong, aggressive, literally larger than life image of a black woman might have been just too much for some people to handle in 1985.
See for yourself:
