Like many contemporary photographers who play with the codes of realism, Valérie Jouve composes her images, having already a more or less predetermined result in mind, in order to deliver a complex representation of the world instead of a bold presentation of facts. A part of the series "Les Figures", this "portrait' of P. Faure carries a strong ambiguity, typical of the photographer's images, between realism and mise-en-scene.
This photograph is exemplary of Valérie Jouve's work: inscription of an inidual within an urban landscape, relation to architecture, simplicity of composition and strong, yet imprecise narrativity - related in part to seemingly familiar characters or places. The position of the body is somewhat sculptural enhancing the impression of suspended movement, reminding of Walking man by Giacommeti. This reference is underlined by the man's attitude, looking down, introspectively. The character's intensity places him on the surface, as if he were stuck onto the landscape. Despite his being namely identified, the man seems as anonymous as the undefined background behind him.