These Powerful Unretouched Photos of A-List Actresses Are Everything

The 2017 Pirelli calendar debuted in Paris Tuesday morning, featuring 14 A-list actresses from around the world. This year's list of talent: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong'o, Charlotte Rampling, Léa Seydoux, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Kate Winslet, Robin Wright and Zhang Ziyi.

What makes this calendar special is that its photos feature zero retouching or airbrushing. That's right, none at all.

"I wanted to use the 2017 Calendar to convey a different kind of beauty," photographer Peter Lindbergh said. "Since it's based on consumption, the present system offers a single kind of beauty, which is essentially one of youth and perfection, since its objective is to get people to consume. But this idea of beauty has nothing to do with the real world or with women. Through the Pirelli Calendar, I've tried to convey a different message, which is that beauty is far more than what advertising offers us today. My aim was, therefore, to portray women in a different way: and I did this by calling in actresses who've played an important role in my life, getting as close as possible to them to take my photos."

"I think it's amazing to look at someone like Nicole Kidman – who was the first I photographed – in a totally different way," he says. "It's a sensational experience to look at someone who's looking at you through the camera, and to form a direct bond with them—it was a unique experience, unlike anything I'd had before. When, after an hour or two of shooting, Nicole turned to me and said, 'I don't know why I'm having so much fun. No one has ever photographed me like this. No one has ever seen this part of me and it's really beautiful,' she captured the essence of what I was trying to do with the 2017 Pirelli Calendar."

Lindbergh said his goal with the calendar, which features 40 black and white photos, was to frame women in a different light.

"I wanted to portray women not in terms of their perfection, but through their feelings and emotions," he explained. "That's why I called this edition of the Calendar 'Emotional': not some artificial perfection, but the real world and the emotions that well up behind the faces of these women."

What do you think of this portrayal of women? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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