Catherine Deneuve has a lesson for Bowie and Dylan on stardom

Celebrities need to retain their mystique and keep off social media

Catherine Deneuve, in her prime one of the greatest stars, has something to say about stardom. The actress, now 71, said at the Cannes Film Festival, that the mystique of stardom was being undermined by the amount of information readily available on social networks. The way actors received widespread coverage on social media “didn’t enable people to dream any more about these people,” she said, adding: “Being a star entails glamour and secrecy. You shouldn’t display everything of your private life. You see so many pictures, so many images – it’s hard to keep some degree of mystery.”

At last, someone has said it. The mystique of stardom is indeed being diminished by stars giving their thoughts so often on social media. And – something Deneuve does not say – confusing their real selves and the characters they play on social media. I was always a bit disappointed when the fine actor Dan Stevens who played Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, reminded us the show was on each week on twitter and occasionally even made a joke about his character’s latest adventure. Viewers need to believe that the characters are entities in themselves, not an extension of the actor.

Even the coolest stars, who understand the concept of stardom and need for mystique, are having that mystique diminished by social media, and indeed their own websites, another ubiquitous development that I am far from convinced by. David Bowie is quite possibly the coolest man on Planet Earth, and his own mystique was enhanced by the totally unexpected release of his last single, which just landed without any publicity, and a subsequent album which no one knew he had been working on. And yet on twitter I am reminded by a feed under his name of all sorts of Bowie related anniversaries, the 40th anniversary of the song "Fame" this year, for example. Of course, it’s not Bowie sitting in his bedroom tweeting, but an over-zealous employee. But these slightly nerdy facts should be shared among dedicated fans, not come from the star himself.

Likewise, Bob Dylan, also among the planet’s coolest. His mystique and elusiveness are such that even his most devoted fans couldn’t tell you whether he was married or not. And that’s pretty rare among global superstars. Yet on twitter I am bombarded with all sorts of naff plugs for merchandise, album availability and the like. It’s hard to reconcile the star and his twitter feed.

I can see why stars like having websites and using social media (or employing people to service the websites and social media). They can speak directly to fans, rather than have their thoughts and personalities filtered through the perceptions of journalists in newspaper and TV interviews. But these communications are too frequent, and often too blatantly commercial. True stardom demands mystique and mystery. Fans need to fantasise, speculate, gossip and dream about their heroes. There is such a thing as too much information.

The Tate director can do even more for painting

When the art world gathered in its various haunts at the recent Venice Biennale, be it a nightcap at the Danieli hotel or a party at the Guggenheim museum, a talking point was an exhibition by the painter Peter Doig, and the opening speech at the show by Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota. It was an impassioned championing of painting. Sir Nicholas said: “He works in paint which is unusual. Everyone works in film these days. It’s great to see. Paintings have ambiguity. There are so many ways you can read a painting.” All praise to Sir Nicholas for saying it. And yet, when the Turner Prize shortlist was announced a week later, there was not a single painter on it. The Turner Prize is organised by the Tate and it would be good to see Sir Nicholas decree that henceforth at least one of the shortlisted artists must be a painter.

Turn up the volume on that classical music

I wrote last week agreeing with violinist Nicola Benedetti’s call for parents and schools to “force” classical music upon children. Teaching assistant Matthew Plant responds that he has given his year 4 and 5 pupils excerpts from Gregorian chant, William Byrd, Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart among other copposers. And, the 1812 Overture and The Ride of the Valkyries is blasted out on the school hall PA system. I particularly like that idea. Not just classical music on the curriculum, but classical music played on the school PA system. If the government were to ask every school in the country to do just that, it could change a lot of lives.

d.lister@independent.co.uk

twitter.com/davidlister1