Fantasize with The Bayadere
THEhey, how beautiful! Overwhelming, even, with flamboyance. We are in India. There are tigers, elephants, a temple and its fakirs, the sacred flame, a high priest with dark eyes and the same soul, then a dancer, whirling, graceful, in love with a beautiful warrior who loves her also. Except that it was promised to the daughter of a king and it is inevitable! Last work of Nureyev, The Bayaderecreated in 1992 from an adaptation of Marius Petipa’s choreography to music by Ludwig Minkus, is a jewel that shines for 21 performances at the Opéra Bastille. Sae Eun Park (alternating with Laura Hecquet) is the dancer Nikiya, Paul Marque (alternating with Germain Louvet) is the Solor warrior. They are admirable with their airy complicity, but we must also salute the entire corps de ballet, a character in its own right in this magic carried by the incredible suite of dances, fans, parrots, vases, the “engagement of Gamzatti and Solor” (special mention to the very glam show of “the golden idol”) and especially by the “Kingdom of Shadows” of Act III, considered one of the peaks of choreography. Add to that the sublime sets and costumes and here is a magic that warms the soul at the moment!
The Bayadere. Opera Bastille (Paris). From April 2 to May 6, 2022.
READ ALSOSae Eun Park, the calm morning star
Take yourself for Champollion
In September, we will celebrate the bicentenary of the deciphering of hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion. But who really was this young researcher, born in Figeac in 1790, who, before dying at the age of 42, managed to understand the meaning of these signs engraved in the stone of Egyptian temples? An exhibition today offers us the possibility of discovering it. Fascinated from an early age by the Middle East and its culture, starting with these images that many then take for simple lucky symbols, Champollion will have spent his life penetrating its mysteries. As we know, it is thanks to the Rosetta stone, covered with a triple text in ancient Greek, demotic and hieroglyphics, that the Frenchman managed to unlock the secret of this writing that is at once figurative, symbolic and phonetic. Considering the 1,400 hieroglyphic signs inscribed in this block of rock as so many letters expressing the 86 Greek words inscribed opposite, Champollion took almost twenty years to elucidate this enigma. It is by considering that the Coptic is the heir to the language of the pharaohs and by translating into this idiom the Greek text of this decree of Ptolemy that he ends up realizing the step aside necessary to decipher each of these hieroglyphs. Reconstituting his approach step by step, the route offered by the National Library allows us to discover the masterpieces contained in its collections. Starting with these manuscripts where one can guess, thanks to the nervous writing of Champollion, all the excitement that this major discovery inspired in the greatest of French Egyptologists.
“The Champollion adventure”, at the National Library of France (Paris). Until July 24.READ ALSOEXCLUSIVE. When the “Crouching Scribe” leaves Paris and the Louvre Museum…
get high with Infiniti
The ISS is no longer responding. Since its supply cargo ship hit it, the International Space Station has been drifting at an altitude of 600 kilometers. His crew, composed of an American, a Russian and a Chinese, is he still alive? From the Baikonur base, the engineers wonder. A few kilometers away, the same day, a decapitated and strangely burned corpse is found on the roof of a ruined building. Around his neck, police inspector Isaak Turgun finds a curious pendant referring to the ancient cult of the god Zarathustra. The cop leads the investigation with his colleague Chingiz. But in Kazakhstan, where corruption reigns, his hierarchy seems reluctant to know the truth about this crime. Is there a connection between the two stories? French astronaut Anna Zarathi seems the only one capable of unraveling this strange affair. With Isaak, she will do everything to elucidate this mystery. Devilishly ingenious, the screenplay, co-signed by Stéphane Pannetier and Julien Vanlerenberghe, skilfully mixes science and esotericism. Directed by Thierry Poiraud, this series in six episodes, transposition of the American series True Detective, mixes SF, thriller and horror, with a five-star cast. Special mention to Kazakh Daniyar Alshinov (previously seen in A Dark, Dark Man, by Adilkhan Yerzhanov) and Frenchwoman Céline Sallette.
Infinitiseries in six episodes, on MyCanal.
READ ALSOSeries: what do we watch to relax between the two rounds?
chattering teeth with Ring, Dark Water and Audition
In need of fresh thrills from the United States? Forget Uncle Sam for the moment, engulfed in a permanent undertow of damaged reboots and remakes (as a recent coincidence: the fifth Scream). Turn instead to Japan and (re)discover three essential flavors in the palpitations department: Ring, Dark Water and Audition. A devastating trifecta of classics of visceral fear, concocted more than twenty years ago by masters Hideo Nakata (for the first two) and Takashi Miike (for the third). At the excellent initiative of distributor Jokers, these tasty nightmares will be released in theaters this April 13 in splendid versions restored in 4K, after being unearthed during the last Gérardmer International Fantastic Film Festival. Trust us: they haven’t lost any of their terrifying flavor. In Ringoriginally released in 1998 then remake in 2002 in the United States (with Naomi Watts), a cursed videotape caused the death within seven days of anyone who made the fatal mistake of viewing it.
In Dark Water, by the same Nakata in 2002, a single mother with a thousand problems with her little girl must, in addition, face a series of supernatural phenomena at the very heart of her building. And in Audition, a producer devastated by the death of his wife organizes the casting of an imaginary film for the sole purpose of finding love. Mission accomplished with one of the actresses auditioned, but the young woman hides a frightening secret. Pure roller coaster of horror with their tetanizing soundscape, Ring and Dark Water (which was also the subject of an American remake in 2005) are among the most frightening scenes and ghostly creatures ever seen on screen. No, we are not exaggerating! More psychological and romantic, Audition will not nail you less to your chair during a last act where the crescendo of tensions patiently built by Takashi Miike explodes in a torrent of violence that Tarantino would not deny. Besides, the film is one of his favorites! Add to the whole a zest of relevant look at the place of women in Japanese patriarchy and you get the unstoppable recipe of three jewels of fear, to relive in priority in the immersive darkness of a dark room. Brrr…
Ring, de Hideo Nakata (1998), Dark Water, de Hideo Nakata (2002) et Audition, by Takashi Miike (1999). In theaters April 13 in restored versions.
READ ALSOPaco Plaza: “Horror films are made to be seen in the cinema”
Listen to November Ultra in April
His songs have the effect of soft cotton balls landing delicately on our eardrums. Cuddly pieces with the same fluffy appearance as the room in which they were written. Ah, how good it is to lay your head on a pillow and be lulled by the crystalline voice of November Ultra! On TikTok, they are more than 500,000 (including Madonna) to find peace in the videos of the thirty-year-old cooing between her teeth of the happiness of healing chants. This Hispano-French has such a soothing voice, moving in its naked purity, accompanied only by a few notes of guitar or piano. It was to calm her anxiety that this shy girl wrote her first album, Bedroom Wallsan effective remedy for ours… To be listened to without moderation during this period between two rounds.
Bedroom Walls, by November Ultra (Virgin-Universal). In concert at the Trianon on May 11.
READ ALSONovember Ultra’s caress