Antoine de Paris: The son of Polish farmers who became the hairstylist to the stars, from Greta Garbo to Brigitte Bardot, from Édith Piaf to Eleanor Roosevelt. Antoine de Paris invented modern hairstyling and built a global empire.
Eccentric, secretive, brilliant, he shaped the image of 20th-century women before voluntarily disappearing into obscurity. Today, nobody remembers who he was.

Antoine’s life is profoundly enigmatic. But what I am now convinced of, after several years of investigation, is that this character acts like a “vortex,” a magnet for those who come close to him and allow themselves to be drawn into the wake of his exuberant life. The trail left by the “Master of Modern Hairstyling” is scattered with unsolved mysteries, figures with sometimes questionable interests, and heirs — real or self-proclaimed — whose motivations and ambitions often contradict one another.

What all these people share is their fascination with Antoine, and little by little, I too, as a filmmaker, allow myself to be swept into this dance, inviting the viewer along as the narrative unfolds. My film unravels these mysteries as I make it. That is what gives it its narrative energy and its spice.

Sebastiano D’Ayala Valva