Even in New York’s streets, couples weren’t seen kissing, and certainly never with such carefree abandon,” says Francine Deroudille. “At the time, American magazines were very keen on Paris stories, especially stories covering the life in Paris streets where people behaved much more freely than anywhere in America. Truth here lies in the beauty of the impulse and a spontaneity that is closely linked to the French spirit and its capital city. Who cares about authenticity? The sentiments showed in the picture are authentic. But, we, sharing Doisneau’s gaze, stop in our tracks in front of this picture: the immediacy of it, the young bodies’ movement and the place and time, Paris, 1950, cast a spell on the viewer.
