Kiki

To tell the story of Kiki de Montparnasse, the famous oracle of the twenties? It has already been done, by the heroine herself in Souvenirs retrouvés(Souvenirs revisited). What is new though in this case is the way the subject is dealt with: the exuberant Alice Prin, a native from Châtillon-sur-Seine, reviles through the cartoon strip. Catel Muller draws clear, informative lines, without any embellishments. José-Louis Bocquet is in charge of the scenario and he introduces the main characters of this of the arts: Man Ray, of course, Kiki’s lover (but not the only one!), Pascin, Foujita, Desnos, Cocteau or Paul-Henri Roché, the dandy and author of Jules et Jim. The wonderful hours of the Coupole, of the bal Bullier, the dadaïstes excentricities and the numerous love affairs, rue Broca, rue Delambre or rue Campagne-Première, are all well drawn. All the way to te end, which has nothing of a fairy-tale happy ending: Kiki sees her companion Henri Broca end up in a psychiatric hospital while she is a hydropic cocaïne addict and hydropisique, and bloats up out of proportion until she dies, poor, at the age of 52, in 1953.

• Kiki, by Catel and Bocquet, Casterman publishing house, ISBN: 978-2-203-39621-0, 2007, 384 p., 18,95 €