The greatest artists of each generation are those who devote their energy
to expanding their art, widening their operating field and freeing themselves
of its dogmas and expectations. Among contemporary choreographers, few
have worked as hard as Jérôme Bel to broaden the mindset and practice of dance. Wanting to dedicate his twentieth piece to taking stock of the work he’s accomplished since he began, he has chosen cinema and its unique power to “interpret the past through the present”. Composed of eighteen danced pieces from his major shows – fragments of recordings set out in chronological order – Retrospective condenses the evolution of Bel’s art and shows its transgressive beauty and how he connects immensely e ective politics and a rare sense of entertainment and shared pleasure. Who has the right to perform on stage and how are they allowed to use their bodies? The succession of dances answers this: everyone, however they like as long as it is not imposed by an aesthetic discipline or social power. Giving an anonymous dancer from the Paris Opera Ballet Corps her name and the limelight she deserves, alone on stage at last, the ultra-democratic choreographer exposes the non-dance that tradition conceals in the most conventional ballets. When a disabled comedian proudly shouts out to the audience that he has “a chromosome more” than they do, it’s the concept of disability that turns into a gift and falls from the stage, leaving only danced originalities, the only thing of worth being the expression of what each body wants to and can do once freed from the injunctions of professional identities and skills. Jérôme Bel’s anarchic and hedonistic art emerges in the light of this Retrospective as a constant e ort, on stage and through the joy of dance, to render justice, to right the wrongs done to (almost) everyone by society and the powers that be. I like to move it? Everyone can move whatever he or she wants to move… (C.N.)
- French Competition
- 2019*
- French Competition
- 2019*
RÉTROSPECTIVE
Jérôme Bel
- French Competition
- Séances
Technical sheet
France, Germany, Switzerland / 2019 / Color / 83'
Original version : french, english. Subtitles : français, anglais. Image : Céline Bozon, Pierre Dupouey, Aldo Lee, Olivier Lemaire, Marie-Hélène Rebois. Editing : Yaël Bitton, Oliver Vulliamy. Casting : T. Abbas, F. Alton, C. Andrieux, S. Atala, S. Augart, M. Bargues, J. Bel, R. Bel, M. Benazzouz, R. Beuggert, N. Beutler, G. Blumer, C. Bozon, D. Bright, M. Brücker, C. Charaire, V. Chavaroche, G. Civera, H. Daoudi, D. Djiba, S. Djiba, Olga De Soto, V. Doisneau, J. Dominguez, M. Doukoure, Dina Ed Dik, C. Gallerani, N. Garsault, I. Glissant, M. Grandjean, S. Gomes, C. Haenni, J. Häusermann, S. Hess, O. Horeau, M. Hossle, B. Izard, C. Jerez, M.-Yo. Jura, P. Keller, M. Kurvers, La Bourette, A. Lee, A. Lee, F. Legardinier, L. Meier, E. Meyer Keller, I. Munduate, H. Neves, T. Pagliaro, G. Pelozuelo, C. Pez, M. Saby, O. Sarazin, F. Seguette, E. Snelder, J. Sundrup, S. Truong, P. Tu, A. Urra, P. Vandenbempt, H. Van Hasselt, S. Verde.
Production : R.B. Jérôme Bel (Rebecca Lasselin).
Distribution : R.B. Jérôme Bel (Rebecca Lasselin).
Filmography : Moonwalk, 2018. Compagny, Compagny, 2017. Shirtology (coréalisé avec Aldo Lee), 2015.
- Autres films / French Competition