Nick Hammond
Comédie Française
State Theater Stuck in the Past
There is no shortage of venerable institutions in France, but they don’t come much more venerable than the Comédie Française. Founded in 1680 under royal order by Louis XIV, the theater was created as a symbol of national prestige and … Read More
Dialogues des Carmélites
Searingly Simple Version of Unconventional Opera
Anyone who wants to hear great French opera this summer might consider going to London rather than Paris to catch Robert Carsen’s wonderful production (first staged in Amsterdam) of Francis Poulenc’s extraordinary opera, Dialogues des Carmélites, currently playing at the … Read More
Platée
For the Love of a God,Nymph Risks Parody Marcel Beekman as a forlorn Platée. Photo: Monika Rittershaus Tucked away behind the Grand Boulevards, the Opéra Comique is one of those Parisian gems that are all too easy to miss. Although … Read More
I Puritani
Bel Canto Version ofEnglish Civil War Maria Agresta as Elvira in “I Puritani.” Photo: Opéra National de Paris/Andrea Messana Vincenzo Bellini’s 11th and final opera, I Puritani, has strong Parisian roots, having been premiered at the city’s Théâtre-Italien in January … Read More
Alexandre Tharaud: Le Temps Dérobé
The Loneliness of a Globe-trotting Pianist
While delving through the list of new movies to find one to review for this week’s Paris Update, I was faced with some strange options. The obvious choice was the two-and-a-half hour biopic Violette, about the writer Violette Le Duc’s … Read More
Alceste & The Makropoulos Case
Greeks and Glamour Open Paris Opera Season Sophie Koch as Alceste comforts her children. Photo: Opéra National de Paris/Agathe Poupeney When the Viennese composer Christoph Willibald Gluck wrote confidently in 1776, at the time of its first French production, that … Read More
L’Inconnu du Lac
Gripping Thriller Sans the Car Chase
If director Alain Giraudie, winner of the best director gong in the “Un Certain Regard” section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has read the manual on how to create a gripping thriller in the year 2013, he must have … Read More
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Wagner Lightens Up After Über-Serious Works
On first encounter, Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg would seem to be an early work. Not only is it a comedy, completely at odds with the supernatural themes that pervade his later operas, but it contains all the elements … Read More
Les Invisibles
From the Closet To the Light
Director Sébastien Lifshitz is best known for his gay-related dramas (most notably Presque Rien and Plein Sud), but he has also produced documentaries at regular intervals (including one on fellow director Claire Denis). This latest documentary is about how the … Read More
What’s New 31.10.12
Paris Update What’s New in Paris BOUNCY BRIDGEBureau faceB: This Paris architectural firm has won a competitition to build a new pedestrian bridge over the Seine at the tip of the Ile de la Cité that will wobble when people … Read More