December 19, 1958. It rains in Paris but the spirit is celebrating because an evening is preparing which still marks the memories today.
For a decade now, the phenomenon Maria Callas has swept all the opera stages of the world and the Divina will - finally - make her debut at the Opéra Garnier.
This sumptuous gala evening, where the whole of Paris is in a hurry, is organized in an unlikely political context.
The Fourth Republic has just died out but René Coty has not yet handed over to Charles de Gaulle, the ashes of Indochina are still hot and the fire is ravaging Algeria.
This December evening, at 9:28 p.m., the Callas appears on stage in a red velvet sheath in front of Charlie Chaplin and the Bégum, Jean Cocteau and the Duchess of Windsor, Brigitte Bardot and the Agha Khan, Juliette Gréco, Yves Montand, Martine Carol , Arletty ... Georges Sébastian is at the head of the choirs and of the Orchestra of the Opera;
the coronation of the Callas is broadcast on Eurovision.
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The images of this evening, which is among the all too rare and oldest in the art of Callas, will inspire director Sergei Loznitsa to produce a film of around twenty minutes.
A Night at the Opera
will be broadcast on the 3e Scène platform of the Paris Opera on Wednesday 2 December, the anniversary of the singer's birth.
Le Figaro invites
you to discover it today exclusively.
Drawing on the archives of the greatest gala evenings, the Ukrainian filmmaker, through a set of collages, composes
A Night at the Opera
where luxury, power and beauty risk at every moment tipping into dissolution, pomp and the vanity.
With nostalgia and irony, he invites to his dream evening Grace Kelly, who has become a princess of a rock, the eyes of Michèle Morgan, Charles de Gaulle wearing his new president's outfit or Nikita Khrouchtchev.
Uniforms, sable, tails, tiaras, medals, Republican Guard and Marseillaise are the props of a show that is first played in the hall where the powerful reign.
And it is enough for Maria Callas to come on stage, to exercise her song and to deploy her majesty so that silence is imposed on the world and asserts the superiority of art over everything.
To read also: Monica Bellucci: "La Callas haunts me"
The Ukrainian director explained the genesis of this resurrection of the great nights of opera during an interview given during the release of the film
Celles qui chantent
in July 2020: “
It's Philippe Martin, whom I met thanks to Jonathan Littell, who suggested that I work from the Opera archives.
I was inspired by this proposal, and I believe that we have succeeded in creating something that is both light and beautiful and which, at the same time, reflects the nature of the Paris Opera as an institution. and its role in French society.
"
An ode to the immortality of art
The filmmaker, with this film, wanted to reaffirm the preeminence, in his eyes, of the highest art over politics and all the ups and downs of life, which they consider to be both derisory and ephemeral:
" The Paris Opera is a national institution, a national treasure, and to a certain extent - in the absence of a monarch and a royal palace - it plays the role of the "sacred temple", an emblematic place of the pride and joy of a nation, where foreign leaders are invited to admire the manifestation of cultural splendor and national glory.
And at the same time, the film's most important message is that the power and glory of art is greater than the aura of any politician or royalty. "
Read also:
Donbass:
Ukrainian Sergei Loznitsa signs a war film, beautiful, tragic and violent
And like a testament dedicated to the genius of a voice like no other, Loznitsa will conclude his ode to art, with these last words:
“When Maria Callas appears on the stage and the first notes of
the air
are heard
of Rosine
, all the stars of the political world, the monarchs and dictators gathered in the public fall into oblivion, completely eclipsed by the talent and the charisma of Maria Callas.
If the Opera House is the temple of the arts, then the artist is God in his temple.
Or, to quote Ossip Mandelstam,
“it is not the city of Rome that has survived through the centuries, but the place of men in the universe”
.
"
»
Une Nuit à l'Opéra
, screenplay and production by Sergei Loznitsa, released on December 2 on the 3rd Stage of the Paris Opera.