A film, a show, a book: the essentials to see and listen to recommended by the editorial staff this week.
Harmony of the heart
Music softens morals and, it is said, warms hearts. The adage could not be more apt than A fanfarenew film by Emmanuel Courcol after A triumph, on the reconciling and saving power of music. The director imagines the meeting between an internationally renowned conductor and a trombone player in a northern brass band. They are brothers, but did not grow up together: the first was adopted by a bourgeois family, the second placed in a foster family, but an accident in life brought them together. Despite their differences in culture and background, their love for music will allow them to forge a unique fraternal bond. Warm atmosphere of the brass bands, precariousness of the workers of the North, the weight of social determinism, painting of the classical world: everything rings true in this feel good movie which, between laughter and tears, evokes the English The Full Monty and The Virtuosos. Carried by the sincerity and authenticity of a writing which never looks down on the characters, Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin escape any caricature. A clear success which, no offense to the most cynical, appeals to our heartstrings. M. L.
A fanfareby Emmanuel Courcol, with Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco, Jacques Bonnaffé, Clémence Massart…
A sacred coronation
Since its creation, which caused a scandal in 1913, in Paris, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, by Nijinsky, The Rite of Spring is a fabulous source of inspiration for many contemporary choreographers such as Maurice Béjart, Pina Bausch, Sasha Waltz, Angelin Preljocaj, Emanuel Gat… Olivier Dubois does not escape this movement, but for him this call of spring could not be made in a single “gesture”. In 2012, he already offered a first part of his collection Rite(s) of springat the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, second part in 2014 with My black chosen one. Sacre #2which he created for Germaine Acogny, drawing his dance from the strength and depth of the African soul. For For Gods Only. Sacre #3it is a declaration of love that he offers to his star Marie-Agnès Gillot: “I see Diane the huntress without game, I see Marilyn without a dress, Callas without a voice, a samurai without the honor of combat. It’s a shining star… it’s a mythological beast that we venerate and that tells the story of our times.” In front of a sort of temple made of wood and ropes, Marie-Agnès Gillot is the Chosen One facing the ultimate sacrifice, she is a samurai, a force in movement, she captures the warrior imagination of medieval Japan to the music by Stravinsky and the electro compositions of François Caffenne for a sacred dance, a hypnotic trance, and the Chosen One then becomes the chosen one of our heart. B. B.
For Gods Only. Sacre #3, from November 28 to December 7, at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, in Paris, then on tour. theatredurondpoint.fr
A toxic glory
He has written numerous novels and made tons of films about fame and the price it costs. But, in general, we love the star, while we will quickly hate her in this text of particularly diabolical precision on the entertainment society and the daily life of a world-famous singer. Cléo Louvent, from childhood, fomented the project of becoming famous. She ticks a lot of boxes (beauty, intelligence, beautiful voice, limitless work force, etc.), and she needs an ambition commensurate with the place now occupied by social networks. Social success has become obsessive. It is this spirit of the times that this novel brilliantly dissects, delivering fierce and funny pages on the confusion of genres which explodes the boundaries between intimacy and marketing.
“The more famous you are, the more you belong to them.” You are a calibrated product that belongs to the label that signed you, to the team that takes charge of your music and your life, to the public that harasses you. Singing the same songs to the point of exhaustion, signing thousands of autographs, doing so many stupid selfies and interviews, with the same fake smile, to the point of mortal boredom. You have to be a cold-blooded animal to stand your ground. Cléo is tough, calculating and selfish enough to achieve this. But the fear of failure, the neurotic octopus of our societies geared towards profitability (of oneself from now on), and its corollary dissatisfaction, which has not let go since childhood (it cuts the inside of its thighs every time). error on his part), are only increasing. Even the sincere love of a famous but good man cannot save her. Rise and fall of a monster, with a scalpel. A gripping novel that puts ideas back in place! I. P.