Julien Duvivier, le mal aimant du cinéma français tome 1 (1896-1940), Eric Bonnefille

This bio-filmography is an interesting document. Many excerpts from the daily press and magazines try to give us an image of the reception of Duvivier's films. Anecdotes may reveal interesting episodes (like the print being destroyed during the NYC premiere of Les Cinq Gentlemen maudits) or not. Unfortunately, this first book did not give me enough. I was already an honest admirer of Duvivier's films and Bonnefille's approach did not challenge me.
That's perhaps because one has to use this book as a tool before trying a deeper analysis of Duvivier's oeuvre?

Krzysztof Zanussi, 70th B-day

Kulturarbetarboken, Björn Lundén

Entertaining it was not. It took me three weeks to go through the book. I had already read the texts from the Swedish Tax Office and just wanted to get updated. It may sound weird to read such things when one is moving out from a country, but I had loaned it while I was still hoping.
In 2009, there is no possible future for film culture in Sweden.
Our lives are calling us somewhere else.
We will get back there if/when intellectuals are welcome.

Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, Gaston Leroux

Carmen bis: I knew the opera, some film versions but had never read the book.
Leroux' story is fun ('she was dancing like the veal in a field') and spooky (the description of Eric's face). It made me think of both De Palma's Phantom of Paradise and Julian's Phantom of the Opera. I had not been aware that the underlying stage story showed excerpts from Faust, Othello and other essential music and narratologic references.
Culture was haunting.



I realize it has been a tendency during the whole springtime. I read books dealing with French filmmakers who had worked during the depression era and found out on Facebook that at least 2 of my favourite TV shows were inhabited with spirits.
The most important TV show must have been Belphégor. I had almost forgotten it, but what could match my tastes better than Belphégor: the story of a woman who follows a ghost in the Louvre museum?
The Phantom of the Opera, Belphégor... Well, well, one can guess where I should go back for a while.

Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival 2009

Cries and Whispers
text: Ingmar Bergman
mise en scène: Ivo Van Hove
theatre company: Toneelgroep Amsterdam

The first half was wonderful.The lead actress (Chris Nietvelt) had so much energy that she made me forget that I did not like the film version Bergman had directed.
This Cries and Whispers was a mix of influences like Yves Klein, Film diaries from the 1980's and 1990's (I thought most of Guibert's AIDS introspections), noisy music and could have been directed by Lukas Moodysson (for the Container trashy aesthetic).
Unfortunately, the second part lost this parti pri and became very classical. The last speech (Ingmar Bergman's own words) saved the play, but I regret this Cries and Whispers lacked unity.

The war: a memoir
text: Marguerite Duras
mise en scène: Patrice Chéreau & Thierry Thieû Niang
theatre company: Les Visiteurs du Soir

Reading or recitating Marguerite Duras' texts is a rough exercise. Often, this sounds like a parody of her own reading, voice or rhythm. Luckily, not this time.
Dominique Blanc's monologue was a simple, straight and sensitive interpretation.
The mise en scène was very minimalist and put the comedian in the spotlight. Unlike most of the other plays of the festival, this one was very accessible.

Eraritjaritjaka
text: Elias Canetti
mise en scène: Heiner Goebbels
theatre company: Théâtre Vidy - Lausanne

Drones & Cracklings
The beginning with the only string quartet was boring.
It was first when André Wilms came on stage that it felt like the play started. The philosophical monologue (a collage of reflections about art, etc...) was good, but even better was the mise en scene. The play was a successful mise en abyme. The body (André Wilms), its pet (the projector), the miniatures of the house, the house itself (first like a white screen, then as a real interior) were (semi)organic envelops. They shone, received light and, like life itself, revealed other levels of reality that had not been expected.
Even if there were some awkward tricks in the filmed part, the whole mise en scene was delightful. I laughed a lot, thought André Wilms was wonderful and liked a lot the soundtrack of the play (even if I was not fond of the presence of the quartet on stage).
I only regret that my husband couldn't follow me to the theatre this evening...