2023-11-13 14:13:12
From November 14 to 24, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris is offering a “Magic Flute” by Mozart directed by Cédric Klapisch. A first foray into the world of opera for the director of “The Spanish Inn”, happy to get out of his comfort zone.
After creating the character of Natacha, a ballet dancer in “Poupées russe” (2005), making a documentary on the star Aurélie Dupont (2010) and devoting her latest film to the world of dance, “En corps” (2022), French director Cédric Klapisch continues to explore the performing arts.
But this time, it is in the world of opera that he intervenes, by directing a production for the first time. And not the least since it is the very famous “Magic Flute” by Amadeus Mozart, performed on November 14 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Attracting the general public to the opera
Cédric Klapisch is not the first film director to take the plunge. Before him, Michael Haneke, James Gray, Christophe Honoré and Coline Serreau tried the exercise.
With well-known names from the 7th art on their posters, opera houses see a great opportunity to rejuvenate their image and hope to attract the attention of a wider audience. It is also a way of offering perhaps more modern or innovative stagings, in any case outside of the classic straitjacket.
Production of “The Magic Flute” by Mozart, directed by Cédric Klapisch at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris in November 2023. [Vincent Pontet – Théâtre des Champs-Elysées de Paris]
Get out of your comfort zone
If we clearly see the goal sought by these institutions, why embark on an adventure which can prove perilous, when you are a director like Cédric Klapisch with a thirty-year career in cinema, fourteen feature films including numerous successes and who ultimately has nothing more to prove? “When I was asked to stage Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ in Paris, I liked the idea of getting out of my comfort zone,” he explains to RTS.
Working with singers or actors is certainly not the same thing, but you also have to take into account other aspects, such as the fact that the show is seen from afar. “A bit like in the theater, in the opera, we are obliged to enlarge the line. We cannot be in the nuanced like in the cinema where, with a close-up, we can seek realism. Here, we must everything make it spectacular. It’s a very different job, especially in that aspect.”
Working on gestures before psychology
To escape from this realism, which has always been at the heart of his cinema, Cédric Klapisch had to completely change his way of working, which was a real motivation for him. For example, he started by thinking about the movements and the way artists move on stage. “It’s the first time that I’ve worked on gestures before working on psychology,” he says. “I’m really in another universe and at the service of music.”
Furthermore, the director had to face another major novelty: working with artists he had not chosen. “The singers were selected by the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. I only discovered the singers during the first rehearsal. It was new for me to work with people I didn’t know.”
Production of “The Magic Flute” by Mozart, directed by Cédric Klapisch at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris in November 2023. [Vincent Pontet – Théâtre des Champs-Elysées de Paris]
Make the work resonate with current events
Faced with this sacred monster of opera that is Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”, Cédric Klapisch tried “very sincerely” to respect the work while making it resonate with current events. “That’s what’s interesting about heritage works. To see why they are eternal, why they still resonate with today’s world. For me, that was the goal.”
The director of “The Spanish Inn” is now impatiently awaiting the return of the public. But he already knows that whatever happens, with this first experience in the world of opera, he will now “never make films in the same way again”.
Comments collected by David Christoffel
Web adaptation: Andréanne Quartier-la-Tente
“The Magic Flute”, opera by Mozart, directed by Cédric Klapisch and conducted by François-Xavier Roth. To be seen at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, from November 14 to 24, 2023.
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