Francine Weisweiller ( Worms; 9 January 1916 – 8 December 2003) was a French socialite and patron of Yves Saint Laurent and

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

Biography

She was born Francine Worms on 9 January 1916 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, the daughter of prosperous French parents of Jewish descent. Her father was a jeweler. The family returned to France in 1919. Francine Worms married at age 17 and divorced after a couple of months. For a while she worked as a beautician and, at the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, as a nurse. Her parents had returned to Brazil. She married American millionaire Alec Weisweiller in June 1941. The couple moved to Southern France, where their daughter Carole was born in 1942. After WWII, they moved to 4 Place des Etats-Unis in Paris, where their neighbours were Marie-Laure and

Charles de Noailles Charles de Noailles (26 September 1891 in Paris – 28 April 1981), Arthur Anne Marie Charles, Vicomte de Noailles, was a French nobleman and patron of the arts. Biography Charles was born in Paris on 26 September 1891, the son of François Jo ...

. Francine Weisweiller became an early patron of Yves Saint Laurent. The Weisweillers met

during the filming of '' Les enfants terribles'' (they were introduced by Francine's cousin, Nicole Stéphane). Francine persuaded her husband to invest in the film, and some scenes were filmed in their house. Weisweiller and Jean Cocteau became close friends, with Cocteau and some of his entourage living with her in her villa ''Santo Sospir'' at

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (; oc, Sant Joan de Cap Ferrat; Italian: ''San Giovanni Capo Ferrato'') is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2017, it had a population of 1,573 ...

from 1950 to the early 1960s. Cocteau decorated the interior walls of the villa and made a film about it,

La Villa Santo-Sospir ''La Villa Santo Sospir'' (1952) is a 35-minute amateur or home film directed by Jean Cocteau in which Cocteau takes the viewer on a tour of Francine Weisweiller's villa on the French coast, a major location later used in his film ''Testament of ...

(1952). He dedicated his play ''Bacchus'' to Francine Weisweiller. Cocteau's ''

Le Testament d'Orphée ''Testament of Orpheus'' (french: Le testament d'Orphée) is a 1960 black-and-white film with a few seconds of color film spliced in. Directed by and starring Jean Cocteau, who plays himself as an 18th-century poet, the film includes cameo appearan ...

'' (1960), sponsored by Francine Weisweiller, was partly filmed in the villa and on her yacht, and she and her butler had small roles in the film. In 1960, she fell in love with writer Henri Viard and her friendship with Cocteau cooled. She reconciled with Cocteau shortly before his death in 1963. Francine Weisweiller died on 8 December 2003, aged 87.

Notes and references

External links

Villa Santo Sospir
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weisweiller, Francine 1916 births 2003 deaths People from São Paulo French socialites Brazilian emigrants to France