French film industry | internationalfilmreview

French Director Clément Oberto – Photography by Pierre Ae

Oberto is among the few creatives whose talent and creative sense have helped connect global brands and contemporary artists with millions around the world. His deep understanding of the luxury world and unique eye for beauty led his work to be featured in Rolling Stone, LA Times, Billboard, Forbes and TIME, as well as on CNN and ABC with “Good Morning America.”

Known for his ability to channel the true essence of a label, he is the director behind successful campaigns for iconic fashion brands such as the Chanel Group, Chaumet, Givenchy and Lancôme, to name only a few.

Often trusted during the early stages of brand development, the award-winning director collaborated with the French label Morreale Paris in 2018 to create the commercials that would introduce their two signature fragrances to the USA.

Known for their bespoke scents, the brand’s mesmerizing perfumes have been called “a fragrance for royals”. Founded by Jean-Pierre Morreale, a French descendant of European knights, the honored family affair required a sophisticated director with a creative eye to embody the company’s history. With this in mind, it was Oberto’s seasoned knowledge of luxury branding that helped transfer Jean-Pierre Morreale’s dream of crafting the most luxurious fragrances into a captivating reality.

Oberto conceptualized, directed and edited the campaigns, while also providing for casting – featuring award-winning actress Logan Polish and twin models Max and Connor Haddadin.

“It was quite fascinating for me to be able to use my skills in so many creative areas, and to have the trust of Jean-Pierre Morreale and his creative director Maxime Rancon to do so”, he says. “Jean-Pierre Morreale had strong values for his brand, and he was attached to seeing them represented in the films. Honor and respect with a noble sense of transmission were some of the core messages he wanted us to incorporate,” he adds. “He also had a certain taste for the past and for whimsical worlds. So these were the elements I used to create the stories behind the three films.”

Presented as the most expensive perfume ever – according to Forbes – the brand’s image rose to prominence with the help of Oberto’s commercials, which were released over the course of several years.

He adds, “It’s rare for a director to be able to collaborate with a brand during such an extensive period of time. I am honored and humbled that they trusted me to bring their dreams and desires to the screen.”

His ability to go above and beyond, whilst remaining humble has been praised by his peers and numerous industry leaders. “I was astonished by the precision of his vision and the strength of it. Clément’s treatment was a detailed patchwork of colors and materials, landscapes and characters. The stories were very beautiful, and exciting to bring to life,” says art director and stylist Nelly Zagury, who’s known for working with Grammy-nominated artists Demi Lovato and FKA Twigs. “I truly enjoyed the challenges Clément gave me. He managed to provide enough space to both follow his directions but also surprise him with my skills.”

Oberto’s artistic vision stems from a soft use of metaphors and symbolism, combined with a strong relation with sounds and voice over. In his work he has many times captured the feminine essence and the natural beauty that every woman exudes.

In 2018 he directed the visually stunning “Entre Ciel et Mer” commercial for the French trendsetting swimwear brand ERES, which operates under the Chanel Group. Known for being simultaneously elegant and daring, the chic label has been producing gorgeous swimwear and lingerie garments for over 40 years.

Clément Oberto was approached by producer and leading global creative agent Jordane Crantelle to design a concept that would secure the funding of the commercial, and also highlight the grace and sexiness of the new exclusive collection. Embodying the brand’s identity Oberto developed the campaign’s theme around the faint parallels between a woman’s body and architectural design. The soft lighting and bright production design created the perfect environment for the commercial, which starred French actress, model and L’Oréal Professionnel ambassador Loan Chabanol.

“I believe a lot of my style aims to be metaphorical. To me, this is the essence of poetry, and something I’m very attached to. With this video, I wanted to blur the line between anatomy and architecture,” he shares. “To never know if Loan was talking about the design of the house or the shape of her body.”

His commercial aligned perfectly with ERES’ branding, and captured the attention of many industry professionals. “He has an excellent sense of story telling and knows how to enhance the visual quality of a production. His esthetic is impeccable! And he is very easy going and sensitive to the actor. He knows what he wants and is good at communicating it,” says Loan Chabanol. “His natural sense of beauty makes him very unique and separates him from other directors.”

Among his phenomenal skills as a writer, producer and director, Oberto’s expertise of color grading, video editing and VFX gives him a wide range of actions to filter emotion into any project. In 2017 he teamed up with French DJ and record producer Gilles Bousquet aka. Mr. Flash to create the film “Cream” an audiovisual poem about loneliness, sensuality and the passage of time.

In the film Oberto developed a unique contrast of bright reds and dark shadows to create a seductive overall tone, while Mr. Flash highlighted the depth of loneliness with a haunting soundtrack.

Mr. Flash, who’s famous for his collaborations with Kanye West, Mos Def and Sebastian Tellier, is also one half of the band Faded Away for which Oberto created a music video back in 2018.

The visual masterpiece, which earned multiple awards, created a juxtaposition between pregnancy and a dark yet magical 80’s culture.

“Clément has a unique visual identity and brings a special artistic dimension to every project. His particular style made it clear for us that it was him we wanted to work with. Him and no one else,” says Mr. Flash. “Clément knows what he wants and pays a lot of attention to details. He works a lot in preparation to ensure the result will be close to the initial pitch. That’s a quality that I’ve very rarely witnessed when working with directors. He cares about every project and never just does something, for the sake of doing it.”

From his remarkable ability to represent million-dollar companies on a global scale, to directing edgy music videos and captivating visual stories, there’s no room to deny that Clément Oberto’s work is as beautiful as it is purposeful. His ability to direct an entire production from every angle reflects his natural skills as a leader, whose precise eye for details sets the tone for success, and we can’t wait to see what he delivers to the world next.

French celebrity trainer and professional dancer Nancy Marie-Claire understands that the human body is a complex machine, and it is her job to assist in challenging, strengthening, toning, and preparing each individual physically in order to maximize their success in the entertainment industry– and in life.

A native of the Caribbean, Marie-Claire entered the artistic world as a dancer, where she learned, intrinsically, the patterns of the human body in space and in motion.

She explains, “This allows me to approach my training sessions with originality and playful side ensuring that each session is always different, varied and diversified.”

But her training doesn’t end there. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training, she is a certified Level 3 pilates instructor, and an internationally trained dancer, having studied under Dominique Lisette in Japan, England, Sweden, and the United States. There is no doubt that Marie-Claire possesses willpower, determination, organization and structure the likes of which most people can only dream of.

While Marie-Claire’s impressive resume undoubtedly helps her land countless celebrity training jobs, it is her compassion, adaptability, and charisma that set her apart from the rest, ensuring a long list of referrals and returning clients. Marie-Claire is most recently celebrated for her outstanding work on the film Proxima, which is expected to be released later this year.

Marie-Claire’s integral contribution to the film coaching star Eva Green (Penny Dreadful, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children) can be seen through Green’s physical stamina on set. In the film, Green portrays an astronaut who is preparing to leave on an excursion to the moon, with the film following her character as she evolves, trains, and prepares for the arduous journey.

“I had to learn about astronaut training methods, which turned out to be very interesting and so rewarding,” Marie-Claire says.

Once she grasped completely what this training should look like, Marie-Claire made the important decision to couple Green’s physical training with a nutritional program as well.

“Because Eva’s goals for this film included weight loss with upper-body mass gain especially on the arms and shoulders we worked primarily on endurance, speed, and force, allied with a carefully planned nutritional program,” explains Marie-Claire.

Marie-Claire worked with Green for three months leading up to the beginning of the shoot.

“In working with Eva, I challenged her with bodybuilding techniques, pilates, and electrostimulation, which has become one of our favorite practices, despite the effort and concentration that it requires.”

Electrostimulation is the application of electric current to stimulate bone or muscle tissue for therapeutic purposes, such as facilitation of muscle activation and muscle strengthening, and is a technique Green found incredibly helpful.

Actress Eva Green explains, “With Nancy’s electro-muscular-stimulation training, she was able to help me gain added strength in a shorter time frame and, above all, meet the needs of the director who insisted we follow a training program as strict as that of the astronauts.”

With her cross-training in electrostimulation, Marie-Claire is able to set up actors for success in a much different way than the average trainer.

Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (Crash, There’s Something About Mary) also benefited greatly from Marie-Claire’s training and nutritional expertise during the filming of Proxima.

“My main focus with Matt involved staging different movements and exercises,” says Marie-Claire. “For example, there was a particularly fun and challenging scene involving a treadmill. Matt had to get on the treadmill and run for a significant amount of time while shooting. I helped train him to focus on his stamina and posture, so that the performance would be believable and genuine.”

While it is important to get the physical aspect of the job done safely and correctly, it is also critical to be understanding and patient as the trainee works to achieve their goals. Marie-Claire shines in this category as well, and celebrities are not shy in singing her praise.

“What’s great about Nancy is her natural empathy, her generosity and her ability to push you out of your comfort zone, getting you to trust her and yourself, completely,” says Eva Green. “Nancy is a person who listens to you, advises, takes the time to know your schedule, to adapt, gives you the best of herself and consequently makes you want to dig down and give the very best of yourself.”

Another trainer perhaps less focused on the individualized aspects of the job could inadvertently discourage an actor, which could lead to poor performance, or even giving up and failing entirely.

It is often said that an actor’s body is the most important tool in their toolbox, and Nancy Marie-Claire’s unrivaled skill, dedication, creative, safe, and effective techniques are instrumental in the maintaining and betterment of this tool.

Eva Green sums it up the best, “As an actor, I need to keep my body in tip top condition, ready to meet the demands of any role, and now that I’ve found Nancy, I know that I can call on her any time, for any project and she will help in my preparation, and accompany me throughout the film, and that is priceless!”

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