Friday, June 6

Bruni


I am in Paris where I snap this bus next to l'église Sainte Marie Madeleine. Vivre la France. 


This country sexually relaxed, no doubt - at least compared to England or the US. And Paris is of course home to mega sex object and First Lady Carla Bruni who married Nicolas Sarkozy in February. She is everywhere like our Diana. The French seem mixed about Bruni- some like her yuf, style and story arc while others irritated by her lack of interest in representing France or the President's office. 

One thing for sure: she did not marry for money or career: Bruni is heiress to the Italian tire manufacturing company CEAT which was founded by her grandfather and sold to Pirelli in the 1970s. Her debut album in 2005, Quelqu'un M'a Dit, went gold. Bruni grew up in France from five and attended boarding schools in Switzerland (sadly not Collège de Candolle - we are the same age, Dear Sister). She studied art and architecture but left school at 19 to become a model. 

Plus she has shagged everybody: Louis Bertignac, Mick Jagger (Jagger's wife Jerry Hall acknowledged his affair with Bruni was a reason for their separation), Eric Clapton, Donald Trump (gross!), Leos Carax, Charles Berling, Arno Klarsfeld and Vincent Perez and former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabious. She's a slapper. So what is this savage woman doing with the French midget? 

Well, power is an aphrodisiac no doubt+she is getting on in her spider widow years. According to Bruni, Bruni gets "bored with monogamy", and "Love lasts a long time, but burning desire - two to three weeks." We are all no doubt greatly interested. This not your usual politics-as-usual, that's for sure.

Oh- and I am in Paris for the day to see my friends at Astorg Partners, who raised our €800-million fund. Beforehand I sneak into the Jeu de Paume and am treated to photographs by Alex Soth, a Minna-soo-tan whose work is "acclaimed for having both a cinematic and folkloric feel: it evokes and hints at the story behind the image he is photographing." He likes rural, and poor, America and his scenes are depressing though also beautifully composed.