Bérénice
Regie, Drehbuch: Raúl Ruiz nach dem Theaterstück von Jean Racine; Kamera: François Ede, Francis Lapeyre, Grégoire Venteo; Schnitt: Martine Bouquin, Valeria Sarmiento; Musik: Jorge Arriagada; Darsteller*innen: Anne Alvaro, Jean-Bernard Guillard, Jean Badin, Franck Oger. FR, 1983, DCP (von 16mm), sw, 106 min. Französisch mit engl. UTRuiz delivered this idiosyncratic film version to the Avignon Theater Festival instead of a theater production of the Bérénice from 1670. In a dilapidated villa, the protagonists recite Racine's Alexandrines to perfection, but their voices are separated from their bodies. Shadows and phantoms speak from the darkness, only Bérénice's face is illuminated as in a silent film. Carried by omnipresent elegiac music, the love triangle of Emperor Titus, friend Antiochus and Queen Bérénice is pregnant with separation from the beginning. But the drama ends – unique for Racine - instead of tragedy and death, in insight and renunciation. (B.K.)
Courtesy Cinémathèque française
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