Catherine Vilpoux

A film-crew in the early twentieth century, the cabaret known as ‘Le Fol Espoir’ has been transformed into an amateur soundstage. The motion picture tells the story of a ship and its passengers – from the famous opera singer down to the petty criminal. The film is an optimistic political fable intended to educate the masses. There’s comedy aplenty – slapstick punches, custard pies and gags reminiscent of Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle; there’s adventure, high drama moments of great bravura , and passionate love stories. The filming begins on June 28th 1914, the day of the Archiduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo, the gunpowder that sets Europe alight. It ends with news of another assassination – that of Jean Jaures on July 31st followed by the general conscription of August 1st, heralded by church bells across France. The allegory of the shipwreck is filmed at breakneck pace during the last five weeks before war breaks out.

From the magic potion to the chemical composition of the worldwide success of Asterix, the film will tell of the genesis of the work, the creative complicity between Uderzo and Goscinny as well as behind the scenes anecdotes.

In this film, Catherine Vilpoux recounts Ariane Mnouchkine’s iconic artistic journey: her inspirations, her dreams for the theatre, her love of cinema, her unique and extraordinary bond with audiences. Extensive archival material – much of which has never been seen before – together with extracts from performances and rehearsals, as well as interviews and coverage of various tours and travels, reveal an in-depth portrait of the Théâtre du Soleil, and its artistic and political commitment both in France and internationally, for which it was awarded the International Ibsen Award in September 2009. Everyone who has seen one of Ariane Mnouchkine’s productions at the Théatre du Soleil in Paris leaves with the feeling of having been part of a tale of enchantment. A tale that is larger than life but at the same time reveals life.

Le Dernier Caravanserail (Odyssées) is a series of stories, scraps of destinies, bits of the lives of men and women – of those "refugees", "illegals" and "migrants" who term themselves, with greater dignity, "travellers". This is a veritable ocean of time-battered odysseys, sometimes heroic, sometimes commonplace, and always dramatic. Initially a work for the theatre, Le Dernier Caravanserail (Odyssées) is now a film. A whole new artistic adventure using the cinema to bring even greater depth to the virtually inexhaustible original material, and intended above all to keep the promise made to those whose stories we are telling: to give them a hearing.

Based on the play by Hélène Cixous, filmed in 2002, Tambours sur la Digue is a story written by Hélène Cixous based on an ancient Asian fable about who shall be saved during a flood and presented by live actors as puppets and puppeteers, evoking the theatrical traditions of Japanese Noh and bunraku.

"When I began to write and shoot my film Eponine in 1975, I wanted to consciously ‘test’ this and other concepts of analysis with a film; the character of a mother without a face; the suggestion through sound of an outside world that one never sees (since the film takes place within the walls of a house from which one does not go out); the creation of an imaginary topography. The success of this film showed me that the concepts ‘worked’. Thus, for me, theory is not a dead demonstration. A living theory must be drawn from a personal experience." - Michel Chion