L’Uomo Femina
Women Rule!
I have long been an admirer of conductor Vincent Dumestre and his excellent period-instrument orchestra Le Poème Harmonique. Specializing in French music from the 17th and early 18th centuries, it has staged and recorded seldom-performed music for over 25 years. … Read More
Fondation Arp
Suburban Hideout for Swiss Dadaists
The sculptor and poet Jean Arp (1886-1966) may be best known to English-language cruciverbalists (yes, it’s a word, referring to a skilled crossword-puzzle solver) for his three-letter last name, which provides convenient fill for awkward gaps in a crossword grid, … Read More
Vivre, Mourir, Renaître
Life After HIV
There is something poignant in director Gaël Morel’s decision to situate his new film, Vivre, Mourir, Renaître (To Live, To Die, To Live Again), between 1990 and ’95; it was during that period that Morel first made his name as … Read More
Les Chevaux de Géricault
Equine Obsession
I wonder how many of the equestrian teams at this summer’s Paris Olympics managed to take time off to see the exhibition of Théodore Géricault’s paintings, “Les Chevaux de Géricault” (“Géricault’s Horses”) at the Musée de la Vie Romantique (due … Read More
L’Impossible Retour
You Can’t Go Home Again
One of the things I love most about France is the seriousness with which the publication of up-to-the minute novels is treated. The most significant time for new works to appear is known as the “rentrée littéraire,” when all the … Read More
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