Nick Hammond
Chambre 212
Ghosts of Lovers Past
Although not born in the city, Christophe Honoré has become the quintessential Parisian film director. Many of his movies (such as Dans Paris and my particular favorite, Les Chansons d’Amour) are set in very recognizable locations around the city. His … Read More
Don Carlo
Political Intrigue at the Spanish Court
Paris has a close connection with Verdi’s most ambitious and – in the five-act version now at the Bastille Opera – longest work. A French-language version of Don Carlo was first performed in the city in March 1867, with an … Read More
Un Air dItalie: LOpéra de Paris de Louis XIV à la Révolution
Court Ballet Meets Italian Opera
The Paris Opera is celebrating two significant dates this year: the 350th anniversary of the founding of the first French Opera by Louis XIV, and the 30th of the opening of the opera house at Bastille, built as a result … Read More
Le Malade Imaginaire
The Joys of Hypochondria
It certainly makes a good story: Molière, playing the role of Argan the hypochondriac in his play Le Malade Imaginaire, is said to have died onstage in the middle of the fourth performance on February 17, 1673. The reality is … Read More
Extreme Manuscripts
Heartfelt Messages from the Past
The overarching idea of “Extreme Manuscripts,” the new exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, is highly original. Instead of showcasing sets of full manuscripts that would go on to form part of the canons of great literature, it concentrates … Read More
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
The Hazards of the Opera Stage
With the necessary fusion of so many musical and theatrical forces, staging opera can be a hazardous business, as was demonstrated at the second performance of Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of … Read More
Le Grand Bain
A Plunge into Implausibility
Isn’t it just typical? You wait so long for a film about a middle-aged male synchronized swimming team, then two come along at once. In Britain, Swimming with Men, starring comedian Rob Bryden, has received middling reviews (“likably daft,” said … Read More
Debussy at the Beach
No Fun in the Sun for Composer
Why, you might ask, is an exhibition titled “Debussy at the Beach” being held at the National Museum of Archaeology in the precincts of the château at Saint-Germain-en-Laye? Perhaps in order to present a close examination of the beach pebbles … Read More
Sauvage
Wild Child
We may all have had our fill of movies about a tart with a heart, but Sauvage is something different. The central character, Léo (Félix Maritaud), is a 22-year-old gay male prostitute who, despite being obliged to perform degrading acts … Read More
Tristan und Isolde
The Joys of Tragedy
Some might think that foregoing one of the final days of late-summer sunshine to spend over five hours cooped up in a theater watching Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde demonstrates either an admirable sense of duty or complete madness. When … Read More