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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
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Bert Stern: Original Mad Man
The title, of course, is a double entendre—a reference to AMC’s juggernaut Madison Avenue series, “Mad Men”, and a reference to the psyche of one Bert Stern.
Stern, like the subjects of so many documentaries, was totally unknown to yours truly. But director/writer/producer/cinematographer Shannah Laumeister has cured me of that malady. Her documentary, “Bert Stern: Original Mad Man” reveals the jaw-dropping accomplishments of this photographer/designer as well as what appears to be his equally jaw-dropping sex life.
Stern is acknowledged as changing advertising forever beginning with a ground breaking campaign introducing Smirnoff vodka to the United States. Laumeister also covers Stern’s history-making photographic coverage of sixties icons Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Sophia Loren, Twiggy. and many more. Stern was the last professional photographer to shoot Marilyn Monroe before her untimely death. The collection of those pictures is informally called ‘The Last Sitting’. Laumeister treats us to most, if not all, of those pictures.
Laumeister tells much of Stern’s story, and the man himself is on-screen for much of the film’s ninety minutes. He seems reluctant to speak at first, but becomes comfortable revealing in cautious terms his prolific romantic (and I use that term loosely) life. His monologue, though, is not limited to his storied life with women. He also speaks of his approach to photography, and makes a strong connection between those two primary aspects of his life.
Don’t be surprised, though, if after all of Stern’s revelations on screen you still feel you don’t know him. It seems clear the man is aware of his behavior and impulses, and it also seems as if he has little to no insight into same. Stern seems trapped by both his sexual impulses as well as his professional accomplishments.
Stern’s much-heralded life was interrupted by a methamphetamine addiction. After his recovery he found himself shooting the troubled Lindsay Lohan as she recreated poses from Monroe’s ‘List Sitting’—a work of photographic art that triple-mocked Lohan, Monroe, and Stern. But it kept Stern in the limelight.