CATS: To celebrate the launch of his Très Vivier shoe, fledgling Roger Viviercreative director Gherardo Felloni tapped none other than Catherine Deneuve to star in a short film launching today on the brand’s web site and social media channels.
Deneuve has a long history with the brand, since sporting the original version of the buckle pump in Luis Buñuel’s 1967 movie “Belle de Jour,” but this is the first time she has collaborated on a project with the house.
The short is titled “Duo des Chats,” or “Cat Duo” in English, and is inspired by Gioachino Rossini’s performance piece “Duet for Two Cats.” In it, two meowing opera singing twins end up having a full-on cat fight over a pair of Très Vivier pumps held in the lap of their mother, played by an exasperated looking Deneuve, who is taking in the performance in her grand Parisian home. In the end, she relents and gifts them both a pair.
“The idea of Catherine Deneuve gifting two young girls a pair of Roger Vivier shoes is deeply symbolic for me, it represents a passing down, from one generation to the next,” said Felloni, who said working with Deneuve was a little intimidating.
“First because she’s a great actress, and second because she’s one of the most important references of my career. If I had to think of an actress in terms of shoes and looks and beauty, it’s her,” said the designer, who got to take a cigarette break with Deneuve. (She smokes Vogues.)
“She spoke to me in Italian, she’s super funny and is amazingly beautiful, I’m obsessed. And she probably knows the brand better than me,” he quipped.
Nadia Tereszkiewicz plays the twins, with Felloni in the role of the pianist.
The film was directed by award-winning American filmmaker, writer and music video director Michael Haussman, and art directed by Felloni’s partner Andrea Danese.
