Anne Piglle - L’Histoire D’Anne Pigalle

Singer, actress, painter, performance artist. Search on Google.com for Anne Pigalle and you get a variety of results – and they’re all the same person. On one hand, there’s ArtsHole.co.uk which talks about Anne Pigalle’s Erotic Revue as “an antidote to the constant bombardment of generic pornographic images we witness everyday in the media.” On the other, there’s a user at RateYourMusic.com that calls Pigalle’s ‘He Stranger’ single “A perfect expression of melancholy and desire from the most underrated artist in recent years.”

Although Pigalle’s milieu remains the stage, this new DVD is a must for fans and anyone that’s come across her one, highly collectable, album from 1985. Part biography, part fantasy, it traces her life story from early the punk scene of 1977 Paris to i-D cover star as ‘the anti-Sade’ in 1984 London, then on to LA, around the USA and back.

This self-produced and directed short film pulls from a dazzling array of sources – TV footage, music videos, magazines, home movies, films and showreels. It’s collaged together with world-weary voice over of highs and lows and some dramatically Twin Peaks-esque music by TDS.

Those with a passing interest will be surprised at the DVD’s gloriously stripped down format – comprising the short film, a limited edition hand made sleeve and nothing else. Quite possibly the only extras-free DVD reviewed this month, it diminishes the power of the format but not the content, which is both enthralling and mystifying.