Artwork by

Risko

Graydon Carter on the glories of the Cannes Film Festival

Apocalypse Now almost broke Francis Ford Coppola. Then it broke the box office

The gaudy, illegally built château that just won’t quit

Alain Delon, according to Claudia Cardinale, Paul Schrader, Shirley MacLaine, and Jean Pigozzi

Porn stars, Roman costumes, buckets of blood, and … Gore Vidal!

Another scandal for Prince Albert of Monaco

When Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald raced along the Croisette

Brigitte Bardot, reluctant influencer

The photographer playboy of the Riviera

Somerset Maugham, sacred monster of Cap Ferrat

A yacht-naming consultant to the 1 percent … and more!

Issue No. 201

The View from Here Here’s why Cannes is my favorite film festival

By Graydon Carter

Read On

The Château That Ate Provence, Part III Despite a slew of court judgments and the looming threat of demolition, Château Diter and its eccentric owner are not only standing, they’re open for business. Has Patrick Diter become “the Tiger King of Provence”?

By John von Sothen

Read On

A Cavalcade of Depravity Shakespearean actors, Penthouse Pets, 3,000 Roman costumes, 450 gallons of fake blood, and Gore Vidal. Was Caligula the most ambitious porno ever made—or the raunchiest historical epic?

By Josh Karp

Read On

Rock Bottom In Monaco, a shadow war is raging between Prince Albert and a billionaire developer that features dirty tricks, a mysterious whistleblower, and death on the winding roads

By Joseph Bullmore

Read On

And God Created Brigitte “Idiotic” is how French bombshell Brigitte Bardot describes a new six-part TV series depicting her life

By Adam Sage

Read On

Beating the System When every studio in Hollywood passed on Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola—the most successful movie director on the planet—became an independent filmmaker

By Sam Wasson

Read On

My Favorite Things When Jean Pigozzi isn’t at one of his homes in Los Angeles, London, or Panama, he can often be found by the pool at his Cap d’Antibes villa alongside the likes of Mick Jagger and Naomi Campbell. Here, the photographer and bon vivant reveals his choice essentials for the Côte d’Azur and beyond

By Jean Pigozzi

Shop

Photo: Godfrey Daniel (Pigozzi)

The Attention-Whore Index Drama from Harry and Meghan! A false step from Kate! Another hissy fit from Putin’s chef! Who will raise your hackles the most this week?

Read On

Lunch with Sienna Miller On this week’s Table for Two, the actress tells Bruce about living in the Chelsea Hotel, the time Bruce Weber shot her for a Pirelli Calendar, creeping on social media, and much more …

Read On

Going Overboard Enlightened billionaires like Bernard Arnault, Giorgio Armani, and Barry Diller name their own boats. A Viennese consultant helps those less inspired name their new yachts

By Andrew Zucker

Read On

The Beautiful and Damned F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s drink-fueled behavior became notorious during their summers on the Riviera, where they were joined by Ernest Hemingway, the Marx Brothers, and Dorothy Parker

By Jonathan Miles

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHOP CHOPPISH SHOP

Read On

Lartigue on La Côte d’Azur In the early 30s, the photographer and playboy Jacques-Henri Lartigue took a job shooting a movie on the French Riviera. The film went nowhere—but Lartigue became a legend

By Joan Juliet Buck

Photographs by Jacques-Henri Lartigue

The Romanian model Renée Perle, photographed by Jacques-Henri Lartigue in Biarritz, in the summer of 1930. More than 40 years later, Yves Saint Laurent made the white trousers in this photo the center of his Rive Gauche summer collection.

Perle, photographed by Lartigue in Ciboure. Her many tiny bracelets, waved hair, painted lips, and long nails set a template for the photographer’s preferences.

Photos taken by Lartigue in Cap d’Antibes, on the set of 1933’s *The Adventures of King Pausole.*

Lartigue highlighted what about Perle was sleek, was lacquered, and from that smooth simplicity created a style that endures today.

*Top,* on set in Cap d’Antibes, 1932; *above,* Perle in Cannes, 1931.

Lartigue’s photos of Perle combine the personal, the sensual, and the stylish.

Perle in Juan-les-Pins in 1931. She and Lartigue broke up the following year.

*Top,* Paul Vasseur and Perle in Cannes, 1931; *above,* soaking in the rays in Cap d’Antibes, 1932.

A post-swim rinse in Cap d’Antibes, in the summer of 1932.

Read On

“Really? You’re not even a little bit insulted?”

The Many Lives of Alain Delon Claudia Cardinale, Paul Schrader, Shirley MacLaine, and others reflect on the genius, charm, and enduring influence of an icon of French cinema

Read On

Dine Auberge de la Môle If you’re looking for a break from champagne, music, and all of St. Tropez’s glitz and decadence, take a 30-minute car ride to the quaint…

Light Trudon In 1783, Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s portrait of Marie Antoinette scandalized Paris’s esteemed Salon visitors, who found the queen’s…

Stay Cap d’Antibes Beach Hotel Those looking for a spring sojourn on the Côte d’Azur, before the summer high season begins…

Sip Racquet Rosé You may have noticed during your scroll down Instagram lane that there are quite a few people going about their daily routine…

Strut K. Jacques There’s no shortage of made-in-France leather sandals, but K. Jacques has been churning them out since founders Jacques and Elise…

Read Light on the Riviera For more than a century, photographers have flocked to the Côte d’Azur not only to enjoy the sea but also to capture the mystique…

Dine Auberge de la Môle If you’re looking for a break from champagne, music, and all of St. Tropez’s glitz and decadence, take a 30-minute car ride to the quaint…

Light Trudon In 1783, Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s portrait of Marie Antoinette scandalized Paris’s esteemed Salon visitors, who found the queen’s…

Stay Cap d’Antibes Beach Hotel Those looking for a spring sojourn on the Côte d’Azur, before the summer high season begins…

Sip Racquet Rosé You may have noticed during your scroll down Instagram lane that there are quite a few people going about their daily routine…

Strut K. Jacques There’s no shortage of made-in-France leather sandals, but K. Jacques has been churning them out since founders Jacques and Elise…

Read Light on the Riviera For more than a century, photographers have flocked to the Côte d’Azur not only to enjoy the sea but also to capture the mystique…

License to Thrill Stunt training, speedboat racing, and cocktails with Carole Ashby are only some of the elements of a new Bond-themed tour of Europe

By Mark Ellwood

Read On

Graydon Carter takes us inside the Cannes Film Festival On this week’s podcast, our Co-Editor discusses the festival’s allure and AIR MAIL’s big party at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc

Read On

Exiled in Style Picasso, Chaplin, Churchill, Woolf—they all came to Villa Mauresque, in Cap Ferrat, W. Somerset Maugham’s well-appointed refuge from England’s sodomy laws

By Sam Kashner

Read On

In Search of Lost Homes A road trip around France, with stops at the houses of literary stars Colette, George Sand, Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, and Victor Hugo along the way

By Patricia Zohn

Read On

Nick Pinkerton A fixture of New York’s downtown film scene discusses writing the script for The Sweet East, starring Euphoria heartthrob Jacob Elordi, which premieres at the Cannes Film Festival

By Nicolas Rapold

Read On

“In case you didn’t notice, I just gave you a wink.”

Jenny McPhee On

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

by Michael Finkel

Read On

Josh Zajdman On

Swann’s Way

by Marcel Proust,
translated by James Grieve

Read On

Down to Earth

In 2010, the French artist Prune Nourry photographed a friend who was eight months pregnant lying in a bath of warm milk, à la Cleopatra. She used a camping stove, an inflatable pool, and a ladder to set up the shot in the middle of her studio. Four years ago, Château La Coste, a wine estate that covers 500 acres near Aix-en-Provence, approached Nourry to create a permanent installation for its outdoor-architecture trail. That pregnant woman in a pool—seven rounded forms emerging from milk—immediately came to mind. For this assignment, she would bring the bathing body into a whole new dimension and scale. Now it is 90 feet long, reclines in the earth, and one can enter it. READ ON

Inspired by a bathing pregnant woman, Prune Nourry’s sculpture Mater Earth stretches 90 feet across Château La Coste, in France.

Read On

Discover

Jacques Pépin

The French chef and cookbook author answers 37 of life’s most pressing questions, revealing his go-to appetizer, his favorite cocktail, and what an ideal weekend lunch looks like

Read On

Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Editor at Large

George Pendle

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Senior Editor

Elena Clavarino

Junior Editor

Jensen Davis

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editors

Carolina de Armas Clara Molot Paulina Prosnitz

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

London Editor

Bridget Arsenault

Communications Director

Harrison Vail

Columnists

Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson Walter Isaacson
Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson John Lahr
Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Pip Johnson Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Photo Editor

Emine Gözde Sevim

Designer

Zoé Gillette

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff Sade Singleton

Intern

Gasper Tringale-White

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Advertising Director

Michael Pescuma

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

AIR SUPPLY

Chief Merchant

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

Zoe Ruffner

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

E-Commerce Associates

Coco Paul-Henriot Roxy Solis

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley

View the Archives

Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through
our links, AIR MAIL may earn an affiliate commission.

The View from Here Here’s why Cannes is my favorite film festival

The Château That Ate Provence, Part III Despite a slew of court judgments and the looming threat of demolition, Château Diter and its eccentric owner are not only standing, they’re open for business. Has Patrick Diter become “the Tiger King of Provence”?

A Cavalcade of Depravity Shakespearean actors, Penthouse Pets, 3,000 Roman costumes, 450 gallons of fake blood, and Gore Vidal. Was Caligula the most ambitious porno ever made—or the raunchiest historical epic?

Rock Bottom In Monaco, a shadow war is raging between Prince Albert and a billionaire developer that features dirty tricks, a mysterious whistleblower, and death on the winding roads

And God Created Brigitte “Idiotic” is how French bombshell Brigitte Bardot describes a new six-part TV series depicting her life

Beating the System When every studio in Hollywood passed on Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola—the most successful movie director on the planet—became an independent filmmaker

Dreaming of a leisurely stroll along the Riviera or a sunbathing session at the Hôtel du Cap? Indulge your Gallic wanderlust with AIR SUPPLY’s favorite French finds, from Parisian sartorial thrills to Marseillais home goods and beyond

The Attention-Whore Index Drama from Harry and Meghan! A false step from Kate! Another hissy fit from Putin’s chef! Who will raise your hackles the most this week?

Lunch with Sienna Miller On this week’s Table for Two, the actress tells Bruce about living in the Chelsea Hotel, the time Bruce Weber shot her for a Pirelli Calendar, creeping on social media, and much more …

Going Overboard Enlightened billionaires like Bernard Arnault, Giorgio Armani, and Barry Diller name their own boats. A Viennese consultant helps those less inspired name their new yachts

The Beautiful and Damned F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s drink-fueled behavior became notorious during their summers on the Riviera, where they were joined by Ernest Hemingway, the Marx Brothers, and Dorothy Parker

Lartigue on La Côte d’Azur In the early 30s, the photographer and playboy Jacques-Henri Lartigue took a job shooting a movie on the French Riviera. The film went nowhere—but Lartigue became a legend

The Many Lives of Alain Delon Claudia Cardinale, Paul Schrader, Shirley MacLaine, and others reflect on the genius, charm, and enduring influence of an icon of French cinema

License to Thrill Stunt training, speedboat racing, and cocktails with Carole Ashby are only some of the elements of a new Bond-themed tour of Europe

Graydon Carter takes us inside the Cannes Film Festival On this week’s podcast, our Co-Editor discusses the festival’s allure and AIR MAIL’s big party at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc

Exiled in Style Picasso, Chaplin, Churchill, Woolf—they all came to Villa Mauresque, in Cap Ferrat, W. Somerset Maugham’s well-appointed refuge from England’s sodomy laws

In Search of Lost Homes A road trip around France, with stops at the houses of literary stars Colette, George Sand, Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, and Victor Hugo along the way

Nice

Aix-en-Provence

Seeing is believing: the Hôtel de Caumont-Centre d’Art devotes its summer exhibition to the genius of the Surrealist painter Max Ernst …

Antibes

Arles

Marseille

Nick Pinkerton A fixture of New York’s downtown film scene discusses writing the script for The Sweet East, starring Euphoria heartthrob Jacob Elordi, which premieres at the Cannes Film Festival

The French chef and cookbook author answers 37 of life’s most pressing questions, revealing his go-to appetizer, his favorite cocktail, and what an ideal weekend lunch looks like

Is Edited By

Creative Director

Deputy Editors

Chief Technology Officer

Editor at Large

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Senior Editor

Junior Editor

Photo Director

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Production Editor

Associate Editors

Art Director

International Editor

London Editor

Communications Director

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Head of Audience Development

Social Media Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Photo Editor

Designer

Technology

Intern

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Advertising Director

European Sales Director

Financial & Business Operations

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

Chief Merchant

Shop Editor

E-Commerce Manager

E-Commerce Associates

In Memoriam