the story of a cult photograph of the “Southwest”

Having previously passed through Portugal, the Aisne, the Paris region and Reims, Patrice Chéreau takes over a dozen streets of Old Bordeaux for his fifth film, in which he decides to tell a part of his life. Margaret of Valois pushed, against the backdrop of the religious wars, to marry Henri de Navarre, the future Henry IV.

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The Gironde capital thus plunges back into 16th-century France, serving in particular to recreate scenes from the Saint-Barthélemy massacre. A Bordeaux shoot that lasts a total of three weeks.

An “invisible” or almost “invisible” photo…

The secret is well kept. Even though earth and sand cover the streets of the Saint-Pierre and Saint-Michel districts, access to the plateaus is “locked”. It's a procession of trucks, trailers, technicians and extras, but nothing filters through. Barriers and guards keep onlookers and journalists at bay. The mystery is maintained by the production and the neighbors have to settle for a few sound bites punctuating the footage.

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And it was in this somewhat special atmosphere that our photographer Daniel Velez managed to take some photos of the shooting and especially the one that interests us. The scene takes place on the rue de la Tour-du-Pin, near the quai des Salinières, on August 3, 1993. In the middle of the afternoon, Isabelle Adjani, masked and dressed in a blue cape, slips into a street full of swordsmen. A scene recounting the Massacre of Saint-Barthélemy (August 24, 1572) in which Protestants were hunted down and killed by Catholics.

A gorgeous “stolen” photo. One of the rare images from the shoot that rocked Old Bordeaux.

…just like Isabelle Adjani