Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Carla’s song

Supermodel Carla Bruni’s latest transformation might just be her most beautiful yet, says Michael Kessler

It’s a beautiful spring day in London. In plush Mayfair, Carla Bruni is puffing on an ultra-thin cigarette in the darkly lit lobby bar of Claridges hotel, recounting the hard time she used to get from guys when she briefly dyed her natural brown hair blonde.

Coming from a six-foot Italian supermodel with cheekbones you could sharpen a knife on, legs that go on forever and feline blue eyes, this is kind of funny. After all, this is the woman who, in the 90s, earned millions on catwalks, posed for 250 magazine covers, was the face of Dolce & Gabbana and Guess! and who was famously accused of destabilising Mick Jagger’s marriage to Jerry Hall after conducting a six-year affair with him. When did she ever not have too much male attention?

If that’s not enough, Bruni was also the subject of a thinly veiled novel written by her now-husband’s ex-wife, who not too discreetly accuses Bruni of stealing her man. To top it off, Bruni just happens to be the heiress to a fortune accumulated by her Italian tyre magnate dad.

Yes, Carla Bruni is rich, very smart and beautiful, so it’s hardly surprising that men are drawn to her, blonde or non-blonde. Now 39, a mother to five-year-old Aurelien and wife to French philosopher and intellectual pin-up boy Raphael Enthoven, 10 years her junior, Bruni’s much-reported past is just that: history. These days she’s a pop star and, after much heartache, a highly credible one.

Bruni’s self-written folksy first record ‘Quelqu’un m’a Dit’ surprised everybody a few years back when she released it – a slow burner that ended up with sales of two million copies, half of them in France alone.

Her second, ‘No Promises’, looks set to do the same – since its release earlier this year it’s topped the charts in Belgium and Switzerland, and has been exceedingly well received in a host of other European countries. It’s not any old record, mind you – it’s her musical take on the poetry and lyrics of William Yeats, Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson and more, in English, and made with the help of another Sir Mick ex, Marianne Faithfull.

There’s a lot of loneliness in some of the songs in the collection, particularly ones like ‘Parker’s Afternoon’. Among all the gossip-mongering about her life in those glamorous jet-setting days, was being beautiful a lonely business?

“I was not beautiful enough to be lonely!” she laughs. “I must be too sensual to be beautiful, probably. No, really, I think that we all have a great deal of loneliness, every one of us. It doesn’t have to be sad, it’s just the way we are. I think we’re all lonely.”

Keeping it real

Today Bruni’s beauty is understated. She’s wearing a light, short-sleeved black cotton top, pale blue denim pants and black velvet loafers. Except for a very simple gold band wedding ring, there are no adornments – no earrings, necklaces, nothing. She’s even got a few long grey stands of hair on show. There are traces of life’s lines on her oh-so-pale face, too.

“It’s impossible not to have lines,” Bruni exclaims. “Not having lines is sick. It’s really ugly, it means you don’t live. There’s something about sexiness that really comes from preferring what you see in the mirror.”

Grey hair or not, you’d hardly think that Bruni’s looks, career and wealth are those of someone who’s been hard done by in life, but it was precisely those things that caused her to be stereotyped when she decided to trade in being a mannequin for a musician.

Bruni was surrounded by music as a child growing up, first in Turin, before her family shifted to Paris in the early 70s amidst a spate of kidnappings of wealthy Italian businessmen. Her grandfather wrote operas, her mum was a pretty good concert pianist and even her tycoon dad penned music. A self-taught guitarist, Bruni spent a lot of hotel down-time in her modelling days strumming and writing songs. In 2000 she wrote six songs for the well-respected French singer Julien Clerc.

“I realised something when I was 25 years old. I used to tell myself that I’d never write a song because I’ll never be Bob Dylan. I thought it was a modest way to see life, but it’s not, it’s wrong, because the minute I talk about it I compare myself to Bob Dylan. So I said to myself, ‘I’m never going to be Bob Dylan and I’ll write anyway’.

It has to do with accepting being mediocre and then you have a chance to become better because you work and work and work.“

That work will continue now that the second album is done, dusted and out there. Bruni is in the throes of preparing for a tour next year. Audiences can expect to see the same up-close-and- personal show she delivered to wide acclaim a few years back.

And then there’s the next album. We know it’ll be in French but it’s unlikely she’ll take the same route as she has on ‘No Promises’: “I’m from Italy and wouldn’t dare to tackle an Italian great, but Emily Dickinson is in another land for me and that’s why I like it. I’m much closer to French and I don’t even think I‘d dare to do it with Baudelaire; it’s sacred to me.”

Home comforts

One can’t help thinking that despite her obvious get up and go, Bruni has led a charmed life. But at least she knows it. For now, she’s happy with her latest career, while sharing life with her man and young son in Paris. Would she be happy living somewhere else?

“Yeah, London. It’s so fantastic here when it’s sunny. I could live in Barcelona; it’s a dream of a city. I could live in Italy; it’s one of the easiest countries to live in. It has a quality of life that is still very high, especially the food and the family. You go to a hotel with children and they never get disturbed by them. They really have a thing for children.

“I couldn’t live in Kenya, though, because the skies are too big for me. When I see the skies in Africa I get scared, you know? I get oppressed by being in Africa – I find it too grand. The nature… ‘Oh, here is a spider! There’s a snake in your room!’ I’m from Turin, where there is fog and mountains!

“But, I must say, I’m kind of fascinated by the English people – they’re so eccentric. They’re so different from us Italians – they’re exotic. And they’re island people. Island people are always different, and in their history they are also very courageous people. I also like their humour, with the men dressing as women – I love that. It’d be impossible in Italy. English men are really attractive for a Latin woman.”

Bruni’s life over the past two years has been pretty wrapped up in the likes of the Faithfulls, the Dickinsons and Parkers. Does she identify with these kind of female survivors?

“Before my time, women always had to choose between their personal life and what they would create. You see, these women have this incredible life but they still have to pay for it. I think you can have an incredible life as a man without paying for it. So there’s still something a bit unfair.”

FR Regard sur Carla Bruni

Carla Bruni est riche, belle et intelligente. C’est la femme qui, dans les années 90, a gagné des millions sur les podiums des défilés de mode, a posé pour 250 couvertures de magazines, a été l’égérie de Dolce & Gabbana et a aussi été accusée de déstabiliser le mariage de Mick Jagger et de Jerry Hall.

Aujourd’hui c’est une pop star. Son premier album, Quelqu’un m’a Dit, a totalisé 2 millions d’exemplaires, la moitié des ventes ayant été réalisées en France. Son second album, No Promises, une comédie musicale qui tire son inspiration de la poésie de Dorothy Parker, d’Emily Dickinson et d’autres, semble suivre le même chemin – depuis son lancement plus tôt cette année, il plafonne au sommet des hits parades en Belgique et en Suisse.

Ses chansons sont empreintes d’une grande mélancolie, la beauté serait-elle donc une affaire de solitude? “Je pense que nous partageons tous une grande part de solitude,” confie-t-elle, “chacun d’entre nous. Cette constatation ne doit pas nécessairement nous rendre tristes, c’est juste la façon dont nous sommes faits.”

Durant son enfance, Bruni était entourée de musique: son grand-père écrivait des opéras, sa mère était pianiste concertiste et son magnat de père se laissait même de temps à autres à écrire des chansons. “Je me disais souvent que je n’écrirais jamais une chanson parce que je ne serais jamais Bob Dylan,” dit-elle, “mais c’est faux. En fait, je ne serai jamais Bob Dylan mais j’écrirai de toute façon, ensuite on peut envisager de s’améliorer grâce au travail constant.“

La tâche de Carla continuera avec une nouvelle tournée, et par après un nouvel album en français. Et même si elle est heureuse à Paris, pense-t-elle parfois à s’installer ailleurs? “Yeah, à Londres! J’ai une fascination pour les Anglais.”

NL Zo klinkt Carla Bruni

Carla Bruni is rijk, slim en bloedmooi. In de jaren ‘90 verdiende ze miljoenen op de catwalk en prijkte ze op 250 covers. Ze was het gezicht van Dolce & Gabbana en werd verantwoordelijk gehouden voor de huwelijksproblemen tussen Mick Jagger en Jerry Hall.

En nu is ze een popster. Van haar eerste album, Quelqu’un m’a Dit, werden 2 miljoen exemplaren verkocht, waarvan de helft in Frankrijk alleen al. Het tweede, No Promises, waarin ze de poëzie van onder meer Dorothy Parker en Emily Dickinson verkent, gaat dezelfde weg op. Sinds de release eerder dit jaar staat het hoog in de Belgische en Zwitserse hitparades.

Er zit veel eenzaamheid in de nummers. Is mooi zijn een eenzame bedoening? “Ik denk dat iedereen vaak eenzaam is”, vertelt ze. “Dat hoeft niet triest te zijn, zo zitten we gewoon in elkaar.”

Bruni is met muziek opgegroeid. Haar grootvader schreef opera’s, haar moeder was concertpianiste en als succesvol zakenman schreef haar vader songteksten. “Ik bezwoer dat ik geen songs zou schrijven omdat ik nooit Bob Dylan kon zijn”, verklaart ze. “Maar dat is fout. Ik zal nooit een Bob Dylan zijn, maar ik schrijf toch. Je kan alleen beter worden door hard te werken.”

En dat werk krijgt een staartje, met een nieuwe tournee en daarna een nieuw album in het Frans. Zou ze haar dierbare Parijs kunnen inruilen voor een andere woonplaats? “Ja, voor Londen! De Engelsen fascineren me mateloos!”

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