‘Mon Guerlain’: when Terrence Malick collaborated with Angelina Jolie
Within the current landscape of cinema, Terrence Malick is undoubtedly among the most enigmatic figures. Following the release of his masterful Days of Heaven in 1975, Malick went on a long hiatus before returning to filmmaking in 1997 with a bonafide masterpiece in the form of The Thin Red Line. Since then, the American auteur has made exceedingly audacious projects that have continued to polarise critics and audiences.
While Malick’s filmography is full of fascinating works, one of his most bizarre projects has to be the perfume commercial he directed for Angelina Jolie. Titled Notes of a Woman, it’s an interesting piece for the Mon Guerlain perfume, since Jolie is the brand’s spokesperson. During a conversation with Harper’s Bazaar, Jolie revealed that her humanitarian efforts in Cambodia also became a part of her campaign with Guerlain.
Jolie said: “I started working in the country eighteen years ago with the UN, and then I met my son. I wanted this little place for him, and I wanted to help the country in some way. We quickly realised that we had to protect the environment because, in addition to the landmines in the ground there was a lot of illegal logging, gem mining, and poaching. Our foundation is Cambodian-run. We have ten schools and two clinics. We’re all a family and work very well together. Cambodia has been through so much and is still trying to recover, but the people are so beautiful and so strong.”
The actor added: “I had a very humble, small beekeeping program. When Guerlain came, they said, ‘We know something about bees, we might help.’ They spent time with the local people and sent an ethnobotanist to Cambodia. We hope our new project will help create jobs and skills while protecting biodiversity in the area. If it goes well, we will see if we can replicate it in other areas. That’s all each of us can do: something small, make sure it works, and hope that through practice we can show that to be responsible with land is the better practice.”
Notes of a Woman is what you get when you condense Malick’s characteristic style into a one-minute advert. Shot on the well-known Château Miraval estate that she shared with Brad Pitt, the commercial is a strange exercise that makes you wonder if Angelina Jolie had been Malick’s perfect cinematic subject all along. With jump cuts that swirl into one another, it perfectly demonstrates that Malick can create something unique with whatever little he has.
With his latest project, The Way of the Wind, expected to be released soon, this commercial is a fun little reminder of what he is capable of. Of course, it’s The Way of the Wind that will count as a proper Malick project since it’s got the scope and ambition that he typically demands of his films. Starring Géza Röhrig as Jesus Christ, it’s safe to say that Malick’s new film is going to be a Biblical epic like we’ve never seen before.
Watch it below.
