Editor’s Note: Grace

“In this film I wanted to say the sum of who we become is thanks to the people we meet.” – Danielle Arbid on Parisienne (Peur de rien) In the aftermath of the bombings in Beirut and Paris, I found myself searching for something in the world that resembled beauty, kindness, and yes, grace. After […]

“The prettiest prettiest girl”: Complex Beauty in Gia

Michael Cristofer’s Gia (1998) opens with a tight shot of makeup brushes accentuating an impossibly beautiful face. The features are those of Angelina Jolie in the role of 1980s supermodel Gia Carangi. The face is unnaturally still, perhaps foreshadowing the well documented fate of the model. Gia lived a life of toxic glamour—she is remembered […]