Les Jambes De Saint-Pierre

Pierre Molinier (1900-1976) was a self-confessed pervert who began as a painter and attracted the attention of Andre Breton. But his notoriety derives from the photos he took of himself and friends, in drag or semi-naked, with great emphasis on legs, stockings, seams and shoes. The work is crude, on the same sort of artistic level as Irving Klaw, but it's far more bizarre, subversive and esoteric. Molinier sometimes manipulated his images, producing kaleidoscopic effects. This appropriately ornate and stylish documentary is beautifully directed by Dominique Roland. White-gloved hands snip photos, stilettos click down staircases, and there is a fine use of shadows. The film tells us everything we need to know about a true outsider, whose work inspired Mapplethorpe and others. Molinier's voice is heard on a reel-to-reel tape recorder describing how he planned that his corpse would be found wearing toenail varnish. Eventually he committed suicide while looking in a mirror, an act that can