More Trouble [Hardcover]

Bettina Rheims (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2004

Bettina Rheims came to worldwide fame in the early 80s with sensational nudes and portraits. As a sequel to her legendary, mostly black-and-white publication Female Trouble, first published by Schirmer/Mosel in 1989, More Trouble presents new photographic visions of glamour, beauty, fashion, sex, and seduction, created from the 90s to the present day. They include portraits of Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Ludivine Sagnier, Emmanuelle Beart, Brooke Shields, Liv Tyler, Isabella Rossellini, Salma Hayek, to name just a few. This time, however, her pictures are mostly in color. And they include men, such as Jackie Chan, Michael Douglas, James King, Tupac Shakur, Mickey Rourke, Marilyn Manson, and Emir Kusturica. Once again, Bettina Rheims proves her extraordinary originality, her empathy, her sense of style, and her feeling for pictorial eroticism.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Schirmer/Mosel; First edition (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3829601069
• ISBN-13: 978-3829601061
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 10.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,751,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars - Incandescent decadence -, February 8, 2005

By 

Glenn R. Urbanas (Richmond Hill, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: More Trouble (Hardcover)

Seeing Bettina Rheims' first collection of color photos was as revelatory as seeing those of Helmut Newton in 'White Women' some 30 years ago (my Italian wife was so infuriated by his work that she tore the dust jacket in half the instant she saw it). I would hardly call Ms. Rheims' new collection erotic in the same way. Her work seems much less obvious; most of the work tends toward the vaguely suggestive, in the sense of stimulating one's imagination without stirring one in other ways, rather like viewing Titian's many varieties of Venus, rather than the concupiescient versions of Cranach, but it is similarly artificial inasmuch as it appears to be the result of careful planning and posing, if not editing, with a few possible exceptions. Plainly Newton's portrait work is the chief influence here. By comparison her nearest competitor, Doris Kloster, seems much more obvious, if not vulgar. Ms. Rheims is able to get her gorgeous film & fashion society stars to play at being fictional versions of their screen & print personas, gently mocking the roles & poses they take professionally. In this there is something of the early Cindy Sherman in the back of Ms Rheims mind, I think. This playfulness, this undercurrent of self-mockery sets her sumptuous work apart from all other current glamour photographers. Ironically this complexity of expression keeps the erotic aspects from being vulgar. I would guess that Ms. Rheims's greatest appeal will be among women. I am not able to judge the very few photos of male idols such as Michael Douglas, Tupac Shukur, and Jackie Chan, but the men (with the notable exception of Tupac) seem rather uncomfortable and even stilted in their poses. Rheims' true milieu and gift appears to be in depicting the eternal and yet transitory female idol. Based on the evidence of this collection she seems destined to make a significant mark. I hope to see more of her work as her subjects (Emmanuelle Beart, Audrey Tatou, Sophie Marceau, Sharon Stone, Marisa Miller, etc.) mature -- or will she gravitate instead to the newest & youngest actresses & models in future? Although a very few photos leave me unimpressed (mostly remnants of previously unpublished b&w & those of Madonna who seems not to have gotten very much into the spirit of the game, or else Bettina came along too late to show the singer/actress at her showbiz best) almost all of the color work is uniformly beautiful - sometimes exceedingly so -- not least because the models seem to collaborate in the subtle hi-jinks. The book gives me reason to wonder if I should not buy one of Bettina Rheims' prints, or maybe two before she herself becomes a star. A less expensive soft cover version of this collection (currently retailing at a whopping $90.00 USD) would expand this talented off-beat photographer's audience.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rheims quality, September 30, 2005

By 

jenni tapanila (helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: More Trouble (Hardcover)

for those who like aesthetic, quality and sometimes a little deviant photos of mostly women, this is the right book. i'm one of those people, and i like how Rheims shows the sexuality and strength of females. most of the photos in the book are of female celebrities, but there are a couple of men too.

for more expressive stuff and more variety, i'd suggest her book called Retrospective; http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/3829600615/qid=1128125680/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-2424421-6415064?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

which has her more artsy, conceptual photos as well, along with many that are in this book as well.