Madame Lévy – an inquiry

Those of us who took the course in Political Islam will have witnessed an interesting scholarly debate, concerning the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, or more particularly his wife and the nature of her mode of employment. Opinion is divided on whether Ms Arielle Dombasle could be best characterised as an actress or a strip-tease artist. Obviously, these are not exclusive categories, and either role could have elements of the other, but scholars are divided on which of the two should be considered her primary occupation. A number of papers have been issued on the subject.

I have carried out certain investigations of my own in the area. The Internet Movie Database, a well-known resource for information on films and people who appear in them, reports that Ms Dombasle has appeared in several highly regarded films, including Flagrant Désir, Les Fruits de la Passion, and Try This One For Size, as well as television dramas including Lace, Sins, and Miami Vice.

I also consulted the entry for Ms Dombasle in Wikipedia, the internet encyclodaedia. Here she is described as a singer and actress. There is no mention here of her having worked in burlesque, suggesting that any strip-tease activity in which she may have engaged was in the distant past and marginal to her main areas of aesthetic endeavour.

Close attention to source material suggests that reports of Ms Dombasle being employed in strip-tease may simply be the result of an erroneous reading of available documentation. Wikipedia reports that Bernard-Henri Lévy described her as having the looks of "a Crazy Horse dancing girl". Le Crazy Horse de Paris is a famous nude cabaret in Paris. It is easy to see how a careless reading of this source could lead to one thinking that it described Ms Dombasle as being such a dancing girl, rather than looking like one.

It appears therefore that the most correct position is that Ms Dombasle is indeed an actress and singer, and that any suggestion of her being employed in the business of clothes removal is based on a misreading of the documentary evidence.

Or so I thought. Further inquiries have revealed that earlier this year Ms Dombasle took part in a nude performance in Le Crazy Horse, promoting her latest record, C'est si bon. Or so reports this French language news source: Arielle Dombasle invente le récital érotique au Crazy Horse It appears, therefore, to be the case that, although Ms Dombasle is primarily an actress and singer, she is not averse to occasional participation in burlesque stage shows.