CONFRONTATIONAL. THE 1973 FILM »DADDY« BY NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE AND PETER WHITEHEAD IS THE MOST VISUALLY ARRESTING REVENGE MOVIE. IN IT, DE SAINT PHALLE KILLS HER FATHER SEVENTEEN TIMES. THAT KIND OF REVENGE. AND THIS IS THE BOOK. WITH THE UNFORGETTABLE COVER. WHICH IS JUST AS WELL, IT IS RARE, AND YOU MAY NEVER SEE IT AGAIN.
Just extraordinary. The book of the film was only published in Japan. There is no other printed record.
A German poster for the film, reprinted in the book. Niki de Saint Phalle was raped, repeatedly, by her father from the age of 11. The artist only revealed this truth in her 1993 autobiography Mon Secret. She was 62 at time. 20 years before that revelation, she made »DADDY«, which deals with incest and, in which, de Saint Phalle kills her father some seventeen times.
Pages of stills from the film. The actual print is in gaudy, Gaudi-like technicolour. It's not an easy film to find (or watch). You can see the finale on this YouTube link - the shooting of the red paint cans is completely inspired. The film was co-directed by Peter Whitehead. He was also a partner of IDEA favourite Penny Slinger. It looks like nothing you have ever seen before, yet it all makes sense.
The book only exists in Japanese and contains the full script - in Japanese translation. It would, no doubt, have been published as a transcript to aid Japanese viewers as it would not have been subtitled and, very likely, too obscure to be dubbed. It is illustrated with stills from the film and with illustrations by de Saint Phalle.
MUMMY MUMMY EATS DADDY BLIND DADDY
Niki de Saint Phalle is famous - hugely so in France - for her Nanas, wildly exuberant, colourful female full figure sculptures. Two of those signature figures appear in these pages.
SPACE NIKI. Very cool closes out the book. We did actually find one of these before. That was three years ago now. We didn't expect to see another. But here it is - all too real again. We are glad to see the back of it (again)!
One for the out-of-this-world-class librarians among you. That rarest thing, the rarest thing. Niki de Saint Phalle »DADDY« on the button below.