Purple Television
[January 29 2014] : art
Lucid TV: Mind and Soul Control starring Isabelle Townsend by Katerina Jebb
In Katerina Jebb’s evolving exploration of imaginary products, this American-style ad for the antidepressant “Mind And Soul Control” stars former Ralph Lauren model Isabelle Townsend embodying the modern female in search of tranquilizing all anxiety. Reciting her personal mantra as positive affirmations of “I’m always in control, I live my life to the full, I never feel sad”, Townsend descends a wooded path accompanied by the sounds of singing birds and new age music as in a Disney film, as she falls slowly into her own psychosis, “I always feel empty, I never feel alive”. At face value the film appears to be poetic and innocuous however the moment the voiceover is heard, the message is clear. Its plausibility is further heightened by the casting of Townsend, Ralph Lauren’s muse for more than a decade, who represented the all-American dream of aristocratic and timeless beauty. A male voiceover concludes “It’s not you that’s the problem, it’s your life. Call your doctor to take control today”. A work of fiction.
Starring Isabelle Townsend
Editing by Benjamin Ricart at Premiere Heure, Paris
Assited by Franck Mura and Marius Crowne
Hair by Christopher Kim at the Airport Agency, Paris
Make-up by Carole Hannah at the Airport Agency, Paris
Voice Over by Christopher Taylor at MPM London
Filmed on location at Le Moulin de la Tuillerie, Gif Sur-Yvette, the former private residence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
