Cinema · Observations · Humour

Joaquin Phoenix and Jodie Comer to play Napoleon and Josephine in the film Kitbag

In the forthcoming 2023 film about Bonaparte's military career and rise to power, Kitbag, the 30-year-old Napoleon and the 36-year-old Josephine will be played by the 46-year-old Joaquin Phoenix and the 28-year-old Jodie Comer. Which means that either we shall

Aristocracy · Cinema · Observations · Mores · Humour

The Duke of Bedford opened Woburn Abbey to the public with help from his wife Nicole

Supper at the Duchess of Bedford's. A familiar situation? When the hosts want a sumptuous table but have no wish to spend much on provisions, the richer service is brought out, and a few tomatoes and a mound of dried apricots are set in the middle of the

NB! · Art · Cinema · Society

Initiatives worth noting: contemporary Russian artists have designed posters for the screenings of the Street Cinema Festival in their home towns

Initiatives worth noting: contemporary Russian artists have designed posters for the screenings of the Street Cinema Festival in their home towns. Among the authors are Anya Samoylova, Misha Goodwin, Vladimir Abikh, Mayana Nasybullova, Sasha Gordeyev, Maxim Trulov and Ksyusha Lastochka

Art · Cinema · Society

Evelyn Dunbar's 1943 painting “Harvest Season” and the Women's Land Army

Comrades at Work. A painting by the British artist Evelyn Dunbar, Harvest Time, 1943. The canvas documents the existence of a phenomenon known as the Women's Land Army, which first appeared in Great Britain during the First World War as a public organisation for assisting with agricultural labour.

NB! · Coming Up · Cinema · People · Society Pages

Alla Demidova before the premiere of Lyubov Arkus’s film “Kto tebya pobedil nikto”

A little piece of Alla Demidova. Ahead of the premiere of Lyubov Arkus's film about Alla Sergeyevna, "Kto tebya pobedil nikto"

A woman in a jacket and short skirt sits on a stone parapet beside a bronze cannon whose muzzle is shaped like a smiling lion's face.

NB! · Archive · Cinema · Paris

Actress Sabine Azéma beside an old cannon in Paris, photographed by Robert Doisneau in 1986

The actress Sabine Azéma and a smiling cannon, Paris, 1986. Photograph by Robert Doisneau

Cinema · Society · Paris · People · Pop Culture

Brigitte Bardot doubts the national honours for Belmondo and Josephine Baker

Brigitte Bardot Criticises the Memorial Policy of Macron, Whom She Detests. The actress looks sceptically on the funeral of her friend Belmondo: “Jean-Paul Belmondo would not have liked his funeral at Les Invalides.” He was “a charming man”, but “I do not understand the origins of the national reverence

Cinema · Observations

Konstantin Khudyakov’s 1984 film “Success” about a new director at a provincial theatre

A new director arrives at a provincial theatre, and from the first minutes a smug, haughty expression never leaves his face: I, of course, know how everything here should be done. Gennady Fetisov is neither shallow nor stupid, and he wants to stage a "Seagull" the like of

NB! · Cinema · Humour

A Disney Remake of "The Pokrovsky Gates"

NB! · Cinema · Moscow · Observations · Humour

Stills from Marlen Khutsiev's 1965 film "I Am Twenty"

Stills from Marlen Khutsiev's 1965 film "I Am Twenty". So the young people embraced a little, rolled about on one another beside a football pitch, danced chastely, and nothing came of it: not a single Komsomol card fell off. Who knows what another 20 years will

NB! · Cinema · People · Pop Culture

Jacqueline Bisset: 77 today, a beauty she was and a beauty she remains

Jacqueline Bisset is 77 today, a beauty she was and a beauty she remains. Without fillers of any kind, or other such poultices.

NB! · Archive · Cinema · Pop Culture