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53-562: Patrice Chéreau ( French: [patʁis ʃeʁo] ; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films La Reine Margot and Intimacy , and for his staging of the Jahrhundertring , the centenary Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976. Winner of almost twenty movie awards, including

106-429: A "municipal commodity", presenting not only theatre but also "cinema, concerts, poetry productions, lectures and debates about everything from politics to pot". His theatrical team included costume designer Jacques Schmidt , stage designer Richard Peduzzi and lighting designer André Diot , with all of whom he collaborated in many later productions. In 1968, he directed The Soldiers by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz at

159-529: A cycle at the first Bayreuth Festival, became known as the Jahrhundertring (Centenary Ring). Chéreau collaborated with conductor Pierre Boulez , who had recommended him to the festival direction. The French team revolutionised the understanding of Wagner in Germany, as music critic Eleonore Büning wrote in her obituary in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . Chéreau set the scene in the time of

212-539: A global spectacle". Chéreau directed the first performance of the three-act version of Alban Berg 's Lulu , completed by Friedrich Cerha , at the Paris Opera on 24 February 1979, again conducted by Boulez and with sets by Peduzzi, with Teresa Stratas singing the title role. The scene is set in the time of the composition, around 1930. Koch observes frequent topics of hunt, and love colder than death (Verfolger und Verfolgte, und Liebe ... kälter als der Tod). Dr. Schön,

265-504: A model of heaving, combustible history, in which period lavishness and performance energy aren’t mutually exclusive. Splendidly acted and tautly executed." The restoration was released on Blu-ray on August 26, 2014, with a new commentary track by the New York Film Festival 's director emeritus Richard Peña . Spoleto Festival The "Two Worlds" in the name of the festival comes from Gian Carlo Menotti's intention to have

318-659: A new Artistic Administrator who continues to run the Festival. Following Menotti's death in February 2007, the city administrations of Spoleto and Charleston started talks to re-unite the two festivals, which resulted in the Mayor of Spoleto, Massimo Brunini, attending the opening ceremony of Spoleto Festival USA in May 2008. However, at the time of the 2007 Festival, the President and Artistic Director

371-416: A potentially fatal blood disease. The hospital processes are shot unflinchingly, without sentimentality, which makes this meditation on mortality even more moving." Koch notes the similarity of a scene when the moribund is shaved for a last futile surgery he lies on a table similar to Mantegna's Dead Christ . In 2003 Chéreau served at Cannes as president of the jury. His staging of Mozart's Così fan tutte

424-864: A powerful newspaper manager, is reminiscent of supporters of Hitler. From 1982, Chéreau was director of "his own stage" at the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers at Nanterre . In 1981 already he staged there Ibsen's Peer Gynt . He was the first to show several plays by Bernard-Marie Koltès , including Combat de nègre et de chiens  [ fr ] and Quai Ouest  [ fr ] (1985), Dans la solitude des champs de coton  [ fr ] (1986) and Le Retour au désert  [ fr ] (1988). He directed Marivaux' La Fausse suivante in 1985 and Shakespeare's Hamlet in 1989, also works by Jean Genet , Heiner Müller and Jean Racine . He staged Mozart's Lucio Silla in 1984, for Amandiers, but also for La Monnaie and La Scala . At

477-465: A prominent Huguenot and King of Navarre , although she also schemes to bring about the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, when thousands of Protestants are slaughtered. The marriage goes forward but Margot, who does not love Henri, begins a passionate affair with the soldier La Môle , also a Protestant from a well-to-do family. Murders by poisoning follow, as court intrigues multiply and Queen Catherine's villainous plotting to place her son

530-614: A rare acting role, he appeared as General Montcalm in Michael Mann 's The Last of the Mohicans . Chéreau's staging of Berg's Wozzeck was shown from 1993 to 1999 at the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Staatsoper Berlin , conducted by Daniel Barenboim , with Franz Grundheber in the title role and Waltraud Meier as Marie. It was filmed in 1994. A review notes the "presentation of even

583-693: A separation occurred. Under Menotti's direction in 1986, a third installment in the Spoleto Festival series was held in Melbourne , Australia . Melbourne's Spoleto Festival changed its name to the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in 1990. Following Menotti's death in 2007, changes occurred in the administration with the result that the Italian Minister of Cultural Affairs appointed

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636-642: A shocked Margot in a white dress bespattered with blood. The film grossed over $ 1.29 million in the U.S. in 1994. The original full-length version was available for a limited period in the United Kingdom on VHS in a collectors' edition box set in 1995, but all further releases until the blu-ray rerelease in 2014 used the shorter 145-minute cut. The Region 2 European DVD cover also uses the original poster. The film grossed 12.7 million French Francs ($ 2.2 million) in its first five days in France. The following week it

689-400: A tale of sexual obsession which sparked a debate about unsimulated sex on screen. But, Chéreau said, 'It is not like a porno film, not at all erotic sometimes, but it is beautiful because it is life. ' " In 2003, he directed His Brother ( Son frère ), centred "on the relationship between two estranged brothers, one gay, the other straight. They come together when the latter suffers from

742-408: A team of creative collaborators, including the great set designer Richard Peduzzi, costume designer Jacques Schmidt and lighting designer André Diot. Drawn through his analysis of Brecht towards a correct naturalism, Chéreau has discovered and revived a number of little known texts, not least thanks to the many languages he has mastered. His extraordinary critical interpretation of Marivaux broke through

795-566: A theatre prodigy. In 1964, at the age of 19, he began directing for the professional theatre. While studying at the Sorbonne , he professionally staged Victor Hugo 's L'Intervention , and subsequently dropped out of the university. In 1966, Chéreau was appointed artistic director of the Public-Theatre in the Parisian suburb of Sartrouville . With "idealism and inventiveness", he made the theatre

848-496: Is also blackly portentous in atmosphere." Chéreau was in a long-term relationship with his lover and favorite actor Pascal Greggory . He was not interested in gay topics, saying: "I never wanted to specialise in gay stories, and gay newspapers have criticised me for that. Everywhere love stories are exactly the same. The game of desire, and how you live with desire, are the same." Chéreau died in Paris on 7 October 2013 from lung cancer. He

901-746: Is proclaimed King of France as Henry III . The film was an international co-production between by several companies based in France, Germany, and Italy, with the additional participation of StudioCanal and the American company Miramax and the support of Eurimages . Among the locations were the Mafra Palace in Portugal, the Saint-Quentin Basilica , Saint-Quentin, Aisne , and the Château de Maulnes , Cruzy-le-Châtel in France. The organ piece played during

954-540: The Cannes Jury Prize and the Golden Berlin Bear , Chéreau served as president of the jury at the 2003 Cannes festival. From 1966, he was artistic director of the Public-Theatre in the Parisian suburb of Sartrouville , where in his team were stage designer Richard Peduzzi , costume designer Jacques Schmidt and lighting designer André Diot , with whom he collaborated in many later productions. From 1982, he

1007-863: The Festival of Youth Theatre in Nancy . In 1969, he staged his first opera production, Rossini 's L'italiana in Algeri for the Spoleto Festival , again with his Sartrouville team. The following year he established a close artistic relationship with the leadership of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, Paolo Grassi and Giorgio Strehler . There, he staged Pablo Neruda 's "revolutionary oratorio" The Splendour and Death of Joaquin Murieta . In 1970, he directed Shakespeare's Richard II at

1060-535: The Jury Prize and Best Actress Award ( Virna Lisi ) at Cannes , as well as five César Awards . Set in the 16th century, depicting the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in France, it shows battles and the St Bartholomew's day massacre . A scene of the queen with the head of her lover is reminiscent of the opera Salome , uniting cult and obsession ("Einheit von Kult und Obsession"), as Koch remarks. The film

1113-694: The Odéon he staged in 1992 Le Temps et la Chambre by Botho Strauss . He directed Dans la solitude des champs de coton again in 1995, shown at Ivry , the Wiener Festwochen and the Brooklyn Academy of Music . He staged in 2011 Jon Fosse 's Je suis le vent in an English version, I Am the Wind , by Simon Stephens at the Young Vic Theatre , with Tom Brooke and Jack Laskey . In 1983, Chéreau directed

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1166-843: The Staatsoper Berlin in 1994; Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at La Scala in 2007; Janáček's From the House of the Dead , shown at several festivals and the Metropolitan Opera ; and, as his last staging, Elektra by Richard Strauss , first performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July 2013. He was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize in 2008. Chéreau was born in Lézigné , Maine-et-Loire, on 2 November 1944. His father, Jean-Baptiste Chéreau,

1219-461: The Théâtre de France . His first staging for the Paris Opera was in 1974 Offenbach 's Les contes d'Hoffmann . He showed Hoffmann, sung by Nicolai Gedda , as a "sensitive poet for whom love is beyond reach, ... a drunken loser". In 1975, he worked in Germany for the first time directing Edward Bond 's Lear , set in an "industrial landscape strewn with piles of slag, with Lear as a Baron Krupp in evening dress and top hat". He commented on

1272-494: The "macabre" production: "Just as some people feed on hope, I feed on despair. For me it is a spur to action." Also in 1975, his directorial debut film was the thriller La Chair de l'orchidée , based on James Hadley Chase 's 1948 novel The Flesh of the Orchid , sequel to No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1939). The film assembled a starry cast including Edwige Feuillère , Simone Signoret , Alida Valli and Charlotte Rampling "in

1325-576: The 1845 historical novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas . The film stars Isabelle Adjani , Daniel Auteuil , Jean-Hugues Anglade , Vincent Perez , and Virna Lisi . An abridged version of the film was released as Queen Margot in North America, and in the United Kingdom under its original French title. It won the Jury Prize and Best Actress Award (Lisi) at the Cannes Film Festival , as well as five César Awards . A restored version

1378-407: The 1994 Miramax cut, which critics said was confusing and did not give enough time for American audiences to digest various characters and plot lines. Peter Sobczynski, writing for RogerEbert.com , said the film is a "go-for-broke, blood-and-thunder saga that is as powerful and provocative today as it was when it was first released—even more so now that it has been returned to its full length", and

1431-554: The Duke of Anjou on the throne threatens the lives of La Môle, Margot and Henri of Navarre. A book with pages painted with arsenic is intended for Henri but instead causes the slow, agonizing death of King Charles. Henri escapes to Navarre and sends La Môle to fetch Margot, but Guise apprehends him. La Môle is beheaded in the Bastille before Margot can save him, and King Charles finally dies. Margot escapes carrying La Môle's embalmed head as Anjou

1484-412: The [Miss Blandish] role giving a performance of extraordinary intensity. It was an almost operatic version of the misunderstood 1948 British film ." In 1976, Chéreau staged Wagner 's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival to celebrate the festival's centenary, termed the Jahrhundertring . The production, celebrating 100 years after Wagner's work had been performed for the first time as

1537-437: The cemetery of Limoges to the music of Mahler's Tenth Symphony . Chéreau's only English-language film, Intimacy (2001), was based on short stories by Hanif Kureishi (who also wrote the eponymous novel in 1998). The cast includes Kerry Fox , Mark Rylance , Timothy Spall and Marianne Faithfull . The film deals with "the possessiveness of a musician from London who regularly meets a woman for sexual encounters". It "was

1590-520: The composition, with a critical view of the time's capitalism, industrialism and spiritual background. As Büning and others pointed out, the staging left a standard for productions of the Ring Cycle to follow. Gerhard R. Koch mentioned in his obituary that the unity of direction, scene and light was new for Bayreuth and suggested a critical view on capitalism heading towards fascism . In 1977, when heldentenor René Kollo had broken his leg, Chereau acted

1643-492: The decorous reserve and pageantry of other such costume epics." Sobczynski also commended the film for putting its female characters at the forefront of the plot. J. Hoberman of The New York Times wrote Virna Lisi "gives a harrowing performance as the poisonous Queen Mother." Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Chéreau’s and screenwriter Danièle Thompson’s lively adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel remains

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1696-467: The door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects." Chéreau was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize in 2008, in the Edition XII of the prize. The "Reason for award" noted: A natural-born artist with a clear calling, Patrice Chéreau is one of those rare examples of a person who manages to succeed in all the expressive arts. ... Patrice Chéreau is an actor himself with the indispensable support of

1749-515: The fact that it is one of the most expensive French films ever made shows onscreen. Scott Tobias of The Dissolve praised Isabelle Adjani for portraying Margot "as a figure of prismatic emotional and moral complexity, at times aggressive and seemingly reckless in pursuing her romantic and sexual interests, and at others cunning and shrewd in playing the middle of two sides locked in conflict." He noted her "uninhibited performance figures into Chéreau’s approach to history, which couldn’t be further from

1802-414: The film The Wounded Man ( L'Homme Blessé ), a more personal project for him. He and his co-writer, Hervé Guibert , worked for six years on the scenario, which tells of a love affair between an older man involved in prostitution and a teenage boy, a dark view in the context of HIV/AIDS . His 1994 film was La Reine Margot , based on the 1845 historical novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas . It won

1855-475: The frontman of Yugoslav rock band Bijelo dugme . The film opened on 13 May 1994 at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and also opened nationally in France the same day. The version shown at Cannes and for the French theatrical run had a runtime of 162 minutes. For the film’s North American release, the film's American distributor Miramax chose to market the film as a traditional costume drama , with an emphasis on

1908-405: The historic revival of Les paravents by Genet. Chéreau eventually turned to cinema, which he found more expressive of the truth of life that he so values. (for his company "Azor Films") Main sources La Reine Margot (1994 film) La Reine Margot is a 1994 historical romantic drama film directed by Patrice Chéreau , from a screenplay he co-wrote with Danièle Thompson , based on

1961-700: The playwright's sunny surface to reveal him as a forward-looking, harsh social critic. ... Meanwhile, Chéreau shifted from theatre to opera, ... a scandalous reinterpretation of Wagner's Ring at Bayreuth ... He reached the height of his career during his many years at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre, where he developed a new model of expression, discovered and launched one of the great dramatists of our time, Bernard Marie Koltès, whose major works he directed, including Combat de nègre et de chiens and Solitude des champs de coton, as well as Shakespeare, Peer Gynt, Heiner Müller, and

2014-649: The role of Siegfried on stage while Kollo sang from the wings. The Ring production, filmed for television in 1980, initially provoked controversy, but was celebrated after its final performance in 1980 with a 45-minute standing ovation. Chéreau disliked grand opera , but said: "After Bayreuth, I felt the need to work on a theatrical project of some breadth ... I have never put on little things. I am interested only in spectacles that rise above themselves". He first considered Goethe's Faust but then directed in 1981 Henrik Ibsen 's Peer Gynt for Villeurbane and Paris, aiming at "an incandescence of theatrical experience,

2067-400: The romance between Margot and La Môle. Fifteen minutes were cut from Chéreau’s version and a deleted scene of Margot and La Môle wrapped in a red cloak was reinserted. This version was shown in cinemas outside France and later on video. Miramax also changed the image on the poster; the American one features the red cloak scene of the pair of lovers, in contrast to the French poster which shows

2120-554: The smallest roles as deeply-considered characters". His staging of Mozart's Don Giovanni was shown from 1994 to 1996 at the Salzburg Festival . In 1998, he directed the film Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train , a "melodramatic, sentimental and emptily wordy ... about the interplay of assorted characters on their way to the funeral of a misanthropic, bisexual minor painter ( Jean-Louis Trintignant )." The final scene reflects

2173-520: The wedding of Margaret of Valois and Henri de Bourbon was recorded by Pierre Pincemaille on the organ of the Basilica of Saint-Denis . The La Reine Margot soundtrack was composed by Sarajevo-born composer Goran Bregović . Like most of Bregović's work, the soundtrack's melodies are heavily influenced by the Balkan folk music tradition. Additionally, Bregović refurbished some of his previous work while as

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2226-625: The worlds of American and European culture facing each other in his event; this concept would then be strengthened by the fact that it was held in conjunction with its "twin", the Spoleto Festival USA held annually in May/June in Charleston, South Carolina . That twinning lasted some 15 years and, after growing disputes between the Menotti family and the board of Spoleto Festival USA, in the early 1990s

2279-550: Was Elektra by Richard Strauss , conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen , shown at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July 2013 and scheduled for the MET's 2015–16 season. A review noted: "The clichés of Fascist brutality and expressionist exaggeration are astutely avoided: this is a situation that involves human beings, not caricatures, in a visually neutral environment of bare walls, windows and doors (designed by Richard Peduzzi) which

2332-400: Was 68 years old. In 2009, Chéreau signed a petition in support of director Roman Polanski , who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges , which the petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open

2385-509: Was Chéreau's longest, most expensive production, and his greatest financial success. "[I]t was erotic and violent, and offers poured in from Hollywood," but, he said, "I was always being offered films based in the Renaissance and involving a massacre. I even had an offer from the UK to do a film about Guy Fawkes ." He refused similar offers: "It's useless to repeat something you already did." In 1992, in

2438-418: Was Menotti's adopted son, Francis "Chip" Menotti and, in the fall of 2007, the Italian Minister of Cultural Affairs, Francesco Rutelli —after unsuccessful negotiations with Menotti—removed him from his position and named Giorgio Ferrara new artistic director of the festival. This has resulted in continuing controversy between representatives of the "old" and "new" managements of the Festival, as exemplified by

2491-474: Was a painter, and his mother, Marguerite Pelicier, was a graphic designer. He attended school in Paris. Early on he was taken to the Louvre and became interested in the arts, cinema, theatre and music. At age 12, he designed stage sets for plays. He became well known to Parisian critics as director, actor, and stage manager of his high-school theatre ( lycée Louis-le-Grand ). At 15, he was enthusiastically celebrated as

2544-438: Was director of "his own stage" at the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers at Nanterre where he staged plays by Jean Racine , Marivaux and Shakespeare as well as works by Jean Genet , Heiner Müller and Bernard-Marie Koltès . He accepted selected opera productions, such as: the first performance of the three-act version of Alban Berg 's Lulu , completed by Friedrich Cerha , at the Paris Opera in 1979; Berg's Wozzeck at

2597-578: Was intensely moving". He directed Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead , again conducted by Boulez, first shown at the Vienna Festival in 2007, and later at the Holland Festival , the Aix-en-Provence Festival , the Metropolitan Opera (his debut there in 2009) and La Scala. Chéreau's last film was Persécution (2009), "a gloomy, episodic film" about a man who is "haunted by a love-hate relationship with his girlfriend". His last production

2650-515: Was shown as part of the Cannes Classics section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival . During the late 16th century, Catholics and Protestant Huguenots are fighting over political control of France, which is ruled by the neurotic, hypochondriac King Charles IX , and his mother, Catherine de' Medici , a scheming power player. Catherine decides to make an overture of goodwill by offering up her daughter Margot in marriage to Henri de Bourbon ,

2703-525: Was shown in 2005 and 2006 in Aix-en-Provence , the Opéra National de Paris and the Wiener Festwochen . In 2007, he staged Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at La Scala , conducted by Daniel Barenboim . He had stayed away from the opera because he regarded it as "predominantly a musical rather than a theatrical work", but his "sombre, subtle direction – with Waltraud Meier an acutely vulnerable Isolde –

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2756-525: Was the number one film in France after expanding from 248 to 428 screens. The film had a total of 2,002,915 admissions in France, for a gross of $ 12.26 million. In Italy, the film grossed over $ 2 million. In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $ 2,017,346 in a limited theatrical release. It had admissions of 260,000 in Germany with a gross of $ 1.33 million and 530,800 admissions in Argentina. It

2809-508: Was the highest-grossing non-English language film in the UK during 1995 with a gross of £635,711 ($ 980,000). In Australia it grossed $ 890,000. Worldwide, it has grossed over $ 20 million. For the film's 20th anniversary, Pathé restored Patrice Chéreau’s original 162-minute cut to 4k definition, and this version was given a limited theatrical release by the Cohen Media Group in 2014. This version received more critical praise than

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