Directed by Gero  von Boehm
Featuring Grace Jones, Charlotte Rampling, Isabella Rossellini and Catherine Deneuve
Running time: 1 hour and 33 minutes

by Fiona Underhill

Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful is the latest documentary to come to the Kino Marquee platform, which has been a wonderful way to access arthouse cinema and support independent theaters during lockdown. Some narrative highlights have included Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, Bacurau, Beanpole, Abel Ferrara’s Tommaso, House of Hummingbird and Atom Egoyan’s Guest of Honour. Some documentary highlights have included The Woman who Loves Giraffes, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint and Denise Ho: Becoming the Song. 

Helmut Newton is a fashion photographer, best known for his work with Vogue. He was born in Berlin and was a teenager during the Nazi rise-to-power. In 1938, his Jewish parents fled to Argentina, while Helmut travelled to Singapore and then Australia. In Australia, he met his long-term wife and collaborator June Newton (who was sometimes professionally known as Alice Springs) and they settled in Paris in the 1960s. Helmut Newton became best-known for his fashion photography in the 1980s and 1990s and his collaborations with tall blonde Germanic supermodels (what Anna Wintour describes as The Helmut Woman) such as Claudia Schiffer, Sylvia Gobbel and Nadja Auermann.

The strength of this documentary is that it puts the emphasis on the women Newton photographed or who were his professional collaborators, with the talking heads being the models mentioned above, as well as Charlotte Rampling, Isabella Rossellini, Marianne Faithful, Grace Jones and the ubiquitous Anna Wintour. Wintour does reveal that she was so intimidated by Newton, that she sent someone else to an assignment with him and it is refreshing for her to briefly expose a chink in her armor. The second half of the film explores Newton’s German background and also puts a lot of focus on June Newton, as her role as a collaborator with her husband becomes clear. There is archival footage of Newton himself as well, of course, so his voice is present throughout.

By giving the women a voice, their point-of-view on the photoshoots they took part in (which were often accused of being misogynistic) can be heard. Newton certainly used a lot of nudity in his photography and it was frequently used provocatively, by juxtaposing naked flesh with meat or metal, for example. He liked to collide high-and-low culture, so he used a woman preparing a roast chicken in a campaign for Bvlgari jewels which were worth millions. One photoshoot which showed a model’s leg replaced by that of a shop mannequin or with metal pins encasing her leg is extremely reminiscent of JG Ballard’s Crash (adapted into a film by David Cronenberg). Isabella Rossellini’s comments are especially insightful about how Newton was a participant in, as well as exposing machismo and masochistic culture. The conflation of sex and violence and commenting on his own voyeurism “I’m a professional voyeur” were huge themes in Newton’s work, as was the fine line between fetishism and fascism (in terms of aesthetic). Rampling talks about making The Night Porter (a film by Liliana Cavani which features a sadomasochistic relationship with a Nazi) and then shooting with Newton and bringing some of those themes across. Newton was extremely aware of how his images would be perceived. 

The second half of the documentary reveals a much more intimate side to the photographer and his relationship with his wife. There is footage of them both at an exhibition of personal photos that they had taken of one another (including of June in hospital after surgery) and they both speak of their relationship in a way that makes this man known for his powerful, strong and shocking images much more vulnerable.

The only real bum-note of the documentary is the obvious use of music – eg. Pictures of You by The Cure and Make Me Smile by The Kinks (surprisingly no Girls on Film by Duran Duran though). But other than this, it is well edited and structured, with an excellent mix of talking heads and archival footage of the man himself and his wife speaking in their own words. The women are the real stars of this documentary and hearing their points-of-view on what can be viewed as sexist work is extremely interesting. Also, like all of the best documentaries, it’s extremely inspiring and creatively invigorating and sparks lots of connections and comparisons to other artists such as Brecht, Mapplethorpe, Tom of Finland, Paul Verhoeven and JG Ballard – some of these were names directly mentioned in the film and some were names that I was reminded of while watching.

If you’re vaguely interested in the world of art, fashion or photography, I would highly recommend this documentary, which is a fascinating overview of Helmut Newton’s work and personal life. The real highlight is that it turns those who have been viewed as sexual objects into subjects with agency and a voice.

Available to watch via virtual cinemas starting today, more info can be found here.