Hearts of Sand

Paringaux and de Loustal ( Love Shots ) are neatly matched collaborators. The interconnections between words and pictures are so well established that it is impossible to just look at the images or read the text. De Loustal draws in the tradition of early 20th-century European artists, de Chirico and Picasso in particular. Paringaux's story recalls modernist French cinema: lots of smoking, sweating and sex, and against the clear-cut happy-ending tradition (not to mention the heterosexual tradition) many Americans are accustomed to in popular fiction. The story involves an American tennis player named Baby and three people who are attracted to her: her German chaperone, Eva; a French soldier named Robert; and an Arab who kidnaps Baby out of love. Baby spends the bulk of the story being passive while others take control of her actions. Eva and Robert appear to be stereotypes--she, the classic lesbian bitch, he, the brave male hero--but Paringaux turns the images on their ear. Eva receives no comeuppance for not being a ``proper'' woman, and Robert is an ineffectual drunkard with delusions of chivalry. A fine work from two prime French talents. (May)