René-Jacques, Montmartre, 1950

Les Escaliers de Montmartre. Here is the image shot by René-Jacques, in 1950. Great photographers were attracted by them, Brassaï and Teo Tarras among others.
An inclined railway, le Funiculaire de Montmartre, accompanies the stairs.
Such a funicular is very interesting stuff. I traveled in inclined railways in Budapest and Dresden.
To walk the Escaliers, to take the Funiculaire? If you have time to spend, the choice is the Funiculaire, there is always a waiting line. If you are busy, the choice remains the Funiculaire - the Escaliers are for dreamers.

I remember the photo of one of my schoolmates, on the Escaliers de Montmartre. More than thirty years had passed, still she was wearing on her face the same light as in high school.

René-Jacques, Café des 4 Vents

(Click here for the Romanian Version)

I wish I were now in some Café des Quatre Vents, in Paris or wherever, only I am at a Starbucks – nothing to be done, no independent coffee houses here, Starbucks took them all. Starbucks, McDonalds's, Safeway, Wal-Mart... chains of restaurants, chains of store departments, and each chain is an Imperium with a universe of its own. Starbucks means not only coffee –there is Starbucks music and Starbucks radio, Starbucks wallpapers and Starbucks jars, Starbucks tables and ceilings and lamps, and posters, there is a whole Starbucks culture, offered to customers, modeling them, creating dependencies – creating Starbucks people.










Here is another photo by René-Jacques, Rue d'Varenne, I like it, only I am fascinated by the title of the other one, the Café des Quatre Vents, there are places on Earth at the Quatre Vents, at the crossroads, junctions for roads coming from different geographies, from different worlds, from different periods of time… A curios association – I think now at a movie by Wong Kar-Wai, the title is Ashes of Time, where people come at such a place at the Quatre Vents, past and future get mixed and confused, time becomes ashes. Each personage in the movie comes with her or his own identity; only identities also get mixed and confused. The Chinese title of the movie is Dongzie Xidu, it roughly means Malevolent East, Malicious West – these are the nicknames of the two main heroes, Dongzie and Xidu – so East meet West in a juxtaposition of seemingly random micro-episodes of fights and agreements, who wins? Nothing matters, because everything changes, says one of the personages – and we realize that the Buddhist Canon could be right, the flags are still, no wind blows, it’s the heart of man that’s in tumult.

Well, it seems that I’m in the mood for Wong Kar-Wai again… I saw firstly his last two movies, In the Mood for Love, and 2046 – then I saw all the others.












Here is an image of Boulevard Pasteur, made by René-Jacques in 1927 – that bank could be also a place at the Quatre Vents.