Theater and cinema actress, inseparable from the films of Robert Guédiguian, winner of the César for best actress in 1998 for her role in Marius and JeanetteAriane Ascaride has dramatic art as a profession. The roles she plays on stage and on film sets never overshadow the one she occupies in reality: that of citizen artist.
La Scala Paris understood this well by giving him carte blanche. From September 17, 2024 to May 9, 2025, she presents four shows: Gisèle Halimi, a fierce freedom, The joy of giving the Bertolt Brecht, Touched by fairies by Marie Desplechin and finally Paris found.
Performed by Ariane Ascaride and Philippine Pierre-Brossolette, Gisèle Halimi, a fierce freedom is based on the book of interviews between the famous lawyer and the journalist Annick Cojean, A fierce freedom (published by Grasset in 2020). The latter is also a juror of the Gisèle Halimi Literary Prize, created in 2023 by the lawyer Samia Maktoufwho is also the president of the Association of Franco-Tunisian Lawyers. Both responded to Ariane Ascaride’s invitation to discuss the extraordinary career of the famous lawyer and feminist activist.
Ariane Ascaride then suggests David Venitucci to seize the LIVE MUSIC. Accordionist, but also composer and arranger, he accompanies her on the La Scala stage in shows The joy of giving et Paris found. David Venitucci will play two solo pieces for us, before being joined on vocals by Ariane Ascaride for an extract from The joy of givingaccording to Bertold Brecht.
Encouraging and universal, Brecht’s words infuse with depth into the voice of Ariane Ascaride. It must be said that for her too, art is a way of intervening in social reality. However, there are other ways to commit to social justice. Rony Brauman knows something about it. A doctor and essayist, he chaired Médecins Sans Frontières from 1982 to 1994 and continues to work within the association. Ariane Ascaride dreamed of meeting him. His wish is granted since he will be on set to discuss his commitments. He has also just signed the preface to Gaza Black Bookdirected by Agnès Levallois and published by Editions du Seuil on October 4, 2024.
For the LIVE PAROLEthe writer, screenwriter and actress Véronique Olmi will read us a passage from his latest novel, The Courage of the Innocentspublished by Albin Michel on August 24. A great admirer of his work, Ariane Ascaride had lent the voice to one of his characters in the theater. It was in Mathildecreated in 2003 at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, directed by Didier Long. A time for discussion between these two language artists will conclude the program.
Gisèle Halimi, Bertold Brecht, vivid memories
When going on stage for the first time to present the show Gisèle Halimi, a fierce freedomAriane Ascaride quickly felt something special. From the first day, the entire audience stood up at the end of the performance. In question, the unique presence of Gisèle Halimi. “From time to time there are encounters between art and history“, she explains. The text from which the show is taken is the result of an interview between Annick Cojean, senior reporter for the newspaper Le Monde, and Gisèle Halimi. Published less than a month after her death in 2020, this book had an overtly political vocation.She wanted to hold out a torch to the younger generations“, says the journalist, who was marked by her meeting with the lawyer around thirty years ago. “She made me responsible and she was very important in my feminist awareness“, she says. During her travels, she realized the “curse of being born a girl“Master Samia Maktouf greets”the spirit of Gisèle Halimi“which continues to inhabit it.”By creating a literary prize, I wanted to honor the principle of freedom of expression“, mentioning in passing the terrorist attack perpetrated against the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015. She also recalls that Gisèle Halimi, in defending two women victims of gang rape during a trial held in 1978, helped broaden the definition of rape in a law enacted in 1980.
On the La Scala stage, Ariane Ascaride also presents From the joy of giving, based on Brecht’s poetry. “I wanted to show his poems about women, kindness, sharing“. The title of the show, taken from one of her poems, reflects the skin-deep sensitivity of Ariane Ascaride: “Today I am at a time in my life where it is difficult to see people walking in the streets, while people are sleeping on rotten mattresses..” And continues: “I didn’t think that I would arrive, at the age I am today, the world would be like this. I can’t do it anymore.”
Rony Brauman, activism deeply rooted in his body
For Rony Brauman, medicine rhymes with activism, ever since his studies, which he put on hold to join the Proletarian Left. The one who was also an activist within the UNEF, like Ariane Ascaride, said to himself:psychological libertarian“: he does not believe in the libertarian anarchist project, but psychologically likes the project, mainly for the ideal of social justice that it advocates.
It was in 1978 that Rony Brauman joined Médecins sans Frontières, which was then a young NGO, created in 1971. He first went to Thailand, to work with Laotian refugees, then refugees from the Khmer Rouge regime. In 1979, he was MSF’s first salaried doctor and then became its president in 1982, a position he held until 1994. During his career and his commitment, many questions arose for him. Among them, that of the real impact of humanitarian interventions and their possible use by the authoritarian regimes in place. This is evidenced by his experience at the time of the Ethiopian famine. MSF was then one of the very first organizations admitted for Ethiopian aid. The work was very modest in the first months, due to lack of resources, and then came a moment when the whole environment changed: it was no longer a question of feeding the population but of attracting them so that they could be deported. “The idea was to make Ethiopian society the first communist society“, Rony Brauman tells us. It was the interchangeability of individuals that was then being put in place.”The question was whether we continued to provide care, at the risk of people being deported, or to change something“: MSF then takes the risk of standing up against the Ethiopian government. “Between the remedy and the poison, there is only a question of dosage“, he explains to us. Abstention in humanitarian matters can thus be a decision, and not a renunciation. This experience and the lessons he learned from it gave material for books, including Humanitarian: the dilemma in 1996.
Véronique Olmi, sincere and committed writing
Long-time friend of Ariane Ascaride, met through books seasideVéronique Olmi experienced a childhood where writing, poems, theater, orality mixed and shared. It was quite natural, after having been an actress, that writing came to her. “It is we who find the path that must be ours.” His practice of writing becomes the way to never get used to injustice, to look at it to denounce a dysfunctional system. “She doesn’t try to please, but to be sincere”confides Ariane Ascaride. With her originality, her sincerity, her imagination she tries to defend those who suffer injustice. Her contemporary writing makes the link with the struggles and advances of a previous generation, that of Gisèle Halimi, to better recall them and never forget or retreat. Her latest book, of which she reads a passage in Live Parole, The Courage of the Innocents, attacks in particular public assistance, social assistance for children (“a stain on the government”), in the hope of seeing a change. His writing is like a sincere path against a society that is upset and full of injustice.
More information on Ariane Ascaride’s Carte Blanche at La Scala Paris:
- Gisèle Halimi, a fierce freedomby Gisèle Halimi and Annick Cojean, adapted by Agnès Harel, Philippines Pierre Brossolette and Léna Paugam, staged by Lena Paugam. To discover from September 17 to November 2, 2024 with Ariane Ascaride and Philippine Pierre Brossolette, then from May 2 to May 31, 2025 with Marie-Christine Barrault and Hinda Abdelaoui at La Scala Paris.
- The joy of givingby Bertold Brecht, with Ariane Ascaride and accordionist David Venitucci. To discover from October 10 to 31, 2024 has La Scala Paris.
- Touched by fairiesby Marie Desplechin, with Ariane Ascaride, directed and choreographed by Thierry Thieû Niang. To discover from January 9 to May 9, 2025 has La Scala Paris.
- Paris foundwith the actresses Ariane Ascaride, Pauline Caupenne, Chloé Réjon, Océane Mozas, Délia Espinat-Dief, the singer Annick Cisaruk and the accordionist David Venitucci. To discover from January 16 to February 14, 2025 has La Scala Paris.
