Le Misanthrope ・ Comédie-Française

For Molière, 1665 – the year "Le Misanthrope" was written – was a year of betrayal: that of Racine, who gave his tragedy "Alexander the Great" to the troupe of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, after the failure of its first production by Molière’s troupe at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.

Are there autobiographical resonances to Alceste’s black humour, as someone who decided to radiate his hatred for one person over the whole world?
Sociétaire Clément Hervieu-Léger explores the temperament of the “cantankerous lover”, his struggle against the weariness of self and solitude. The work shows us a society free of parental and religious influence whose social veneer is stripped away when desire is awoken.
Pushed to their limit by the radicality of an Alceste willing to renounce any form of sociability, over the course of a day, the characters reveal the contradictions of a humanity that follows heart over reason. They form a social microcosm that is placed in an open space, outside a mansion that is being renovated, instead of the cosy confines of a salon. The set is a moving space, a metaphor for the repertoire, which, according to the director, should “always be evolving, set into its time but nourished by previous centuries and already turning to the upcoming one.” “I belong to a repertory theatre, and I think that if we do not approach the works from a fresh perspective, then this repertory theatre has no reason to exist.” The show, which premiered in 2014, was already performed 176 times; its timeless quality had it crossing the years with an ease no passing years could alter.

This show premiered on April 12, 2014 at the Salle Richelieu.

IN CINEMAS
SEPT 6 > OCT 17

ON DVD
boutique.comedie-française.fr

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