Men’s and women’s haircuts are a timeless issue. Hair is never neutral: adoption or rejection of social codes, affirmation of identity or dictate of fashion, practical or frivolous choice. Opinions differ according to modes and times, here illustrated by several vox pops.
Interview with a hairdresser on the hair fashion of young people and a girl who had her hair cut on the advice of her hairdresser. The hairdresser says: "The boys want the long hair because they had them very short for a very long time...and the girls do with the fashion of big people: the models cut their hair, they cut their hair". Images of women with short hair in the streets of Paris at the end of the extract.
Micro-sidewalk in the streets of Paris: "For or against the fashion of long hair for boys?" Opinions differ: A little boy finds that "it is rather for girls", an old lady thinks that men "must hold their male rank" keeping the hair short, a young man has nothing against but "they must be clean", a bald man thinks it is fine if "it is maintained properly" and a woman replies that "it is not beautiful". Interviews with passers-by are interspersed with excerpts of psychedelic music performed by hairy musicians and images of singer Antoine amused.
Lassée d'être importunée dans les rues d'Orléans, Mathilde Clozier, 17 ans s'est rasé la tête. Un geste symbolique pour dire stop au harcèlement et qui permet de mettre en lumière une vraie problématique qui touche toutes les femmes. Interviewée, Mathilde explique pourquoi son geste est passé par la chevelure : "Il y a un très beau poème de Baudelaire sur la chevelure, c'est quelque chose que les hommes désirent, les cheveux de la femme. J'avais envie de marquer une rupture dans ma vie d'adolescente". La jeune fille dit que cela la rend plus forte, qu'elle ne se sent pas changée physiquement. Elle pense que cela lui a permis de s'affirmer et elle trouve important de transformer son action de se couper les cheveux en acte militant.
Microtrottoir avenue de l'Opéra in Paris. Claude-Henri SALERNE asks passers-by the question: "Do you prefer the fashion of short hair or long hair?". The answers diverge: long hair is more attractive, more feminine, cheaper to maintain, short hair is more practical, more aesthetic too...
Microtrottoir avenue de l'Opéra in Paris. Claude-Henri SALERNE asks passers-by the question: "Do you prefer the fashion of short hair or long hair?". Response from an elderly man ("At my age, we no longer take much care of women"), a young woman and a little girl who prefer long hair.
Micro-sidewalk on the fashion of long hair in men: the relationships between hair length with intelligence, virility and character of men. Opinion of the politician and municipal councillor of Paris, Pierre Christian TAITTINGER.