An Enchantment (Louvre Collection)
The fifth graphic novel copublished by Paris’ great art museum continues the large format of The Sky over the Louvre (2011) and Rohan at the Louvre (2012). In terms of plot and development, it’s the most minimal in the series, a charmer akin to such films as Jacques Rivette’s Celine and Julie Go Boating, Eric Rohmer’s Rendezvous in Paris, and those of Durieux’s acknowledged master, Jean Cocteau. The story couldn’t be simpler. The retiring director of the Louvre sneaks away from his opulent retirement party and encounters a lithe and pretty young woman sitting on the floor of a darkened gallery. The two then prowl the museum, evading guards and reacting to artworks until they fancifully—indeed, fantastically—leave together. Durieux veils every panel with crepuscular sepia, which dulls the colors and contours of the featured paintings and installations but warmly enfolds the protagonists’ developing relationship. His drawing style is otherwise pure European comics realism, eschewing caricature and approaching the photographic, with, throughout, hints of the amusing, quicksilver line of . . . Cocteau. --Ray Olson