France
Reissue CDs Weekly: Marianne Faithfull, Françoise Hardy, Pia FrausSunday, 13 January 2013
Marianne Faithfull: Broken EnglishIn 1979, there was no obvious place for Marianne Faithfull. Identified with the Sixties and the baggage which came from her relationship with Mick Jagger, she had spent part of the decade living on a wall in... Read more... |
The Riviera: A History in Pictures, BBC FourWednesday, 09 January 2013
For a man immortalised by his wails of rainy misery from the moors of Withnail and I, you would expect Richard E Grant to be very happy on the Riviera. He is, with the suave aristo manner of the Englishman abroad. Which is fitting for The Riviera: A... Read more... |
DVD: René Clément filmsFriday, 04 January 2013
René Clément? Who he? Sixty years ago the question didn’t need to be asked: 1952 was the year of his greatest triumph, Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits), one of four titles being issued separately by StudioCanal to mark his centenary. A quick glance... Read more... |
DVD: You Ain't Seen Nothin' YetTuesday, 01 January 2013
By declaring that You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet wasn’t his final film, the 89-year-old Alain Resnais might have been acknowledging his lack of a fixed relationship with time and memory, his continual exploration of their interchangeabilty. In his mind... Read more... |
DVD: Confession of a Child of the CenturyFriday, 28 December 2012
Not-long into this farrago, Peter – the former Pete - Doherty opines that “nothing is beyond romance, except for the pain that is killing me every day”. Thankfully, the pain here is limited to the close-to two hours that Confession of a Child of the... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Lille: Flemish Landscape Fables - Bosch, Bles, Brueghel and BrilMonday, 24 December 2012
If hell doesn’t exist for us in the 21st century, at least not in the literal rather than the Sartrean sense, than how should we read the fabulous visions of 16th-century Flemish artists such as Hieronymus Bosch? As proto-Surrealism? As the... Read more... |
Sauce for the Goose, Orange Tree TheatreSaturday, 22 December 2012
"Doors and sardines. Getting on, getting off. Getting the sardines on, getting the sardines off. That's farce. That's the theatre. That's life." So says one of Michael Frayn's characters in Noises Off. In Sam Walters's giddy revival of Georges... Read more... |
CD of the Year: Yeti Lane - The Echo ShowFriday, 21 December 2012
The real test of whether an album stands apart from everything else is not whether it’s well crafted, moves a genre forward, is thrillingly original or is searingly confessional. The list could go on. The measure is whether it invites revisiting.... Read more... |
Julien Cottereau: Imagine Toi, Purcell RoomMonday, 17 December 2012
There’s something off stage, something loud and threatening, pulsating in dark red, at the beginning of Julien Cottereau’s solo mime piece Imagine Toi. This is a show of fears and sweetnesses, and there’s no holding back on the former as we progress... Read more... |
Bell, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 13 December 2012
Why so much of Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO on theartsdesk, you may ask, when other concerts pass unremarked? The answer is simple: quite apart from the immaculate preparation and the most elegant conducting style in the business, Jurowski... Read more... |
Lou Doillon, Trans MusicalesWednesday, 12 December 2012
It was predestined that Lou Doillon would shadow her half-sister Charlotte Gainsbourg and their mother Jane Birkin by going into music. More surprising is that her full-length calling card, debut album Places, is entirely written by her. The female... Read more... |
DVD: Fairy Tales, Early Colour Stencil Films From PathéFriday, 07 December 2012
Although it's impossible to place yourself in the shoes of audiences seeing these other-worldly short films at the dawn of the 20th century, the reaction they provoke now cannot be that different. Delight, surprise and then amazement. These films... Read more... |
