SHORT FILM REVIEW:Victoria Lacoste in "Renaissance"
In Victoria Lacoste’s latest endeavor, she and Penelope Caillet have come together to create a visual feast chronicling the journey to self-acceptance and finding joy in solitude
Set to the ethereal “Billie Holiday” by War Paint, Victoria stars in Renaissance, a gorgeous black and white short in which she captures the sensuality of being alone through striking imagery. The song carries the viewer through the many dualities of confronting the ‘self,’ through mirror images and regenerative reverse shots, all while Victoria cascades through a forest, with nothing but her own shadow.
The confrontation of the “shadow self” is essential to falling in love with your own company, and by the end of the song, Victoria is dancing with hers, arms outstretched victoriously. This can also be seen through the strategic wardrobe and makeup choices symbolizing both the light and darkness within.
The images, selectively displayed, show a very human, very introspective process that ultimately leads to the liberation of our heroine in her journey into becoming the most authentic version of herself. She quite literally takes the plunge into murky waters and strips herself bare in a beautiful celebration of the divine feminine in nature.
The voyeuristic nature of the project is abruptly turned on its head when Victoria gazes straight into the camera, breaking the fourth wall, and making it abundantly clear that she has been aware of this gaze all along. She is free to be the watcher now.
Rich with metaphor and carefully curated, if this is what we can come to expect from Victoria’s work, I am eager to see what she creates next.
