La comédie Française ou l'amour joué

Over the past thirty years documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman has conscientiously composed an oeuvre by pointing his camera at traditional institutions like hospitals, police offices and schools. Without giving any comment or taking interviews, he stays in these institutes for a few weeks, in the best tradition of the direct cinema. His selection of organisations is determined by the way in which they reflect society. Obviously, his films are often studies of the balance of power. After having made films about a warehouse, a mental hospital and a military training camp, last year he presented his first film about a cultural institution. In ballet he scrutinised the American Ballet Theatre. This year he completed his film about one of France's oldest repertory companies and the theatre that is the centre of their activities: La Comédie Française. During eight weeks in the winter of 1994?1995 he strayed from the catacombs to high in the gallery of this 300-year-old theatre institute. He was witness to rehearsals, theatre rituals and daily routines. While a cleaning woman is vacuuming the hall, the last run-through takes place on the stage. Behind the curtains a props manager checks if everything is ready, and somewhere else in the building the first reservations are taken. And of course this film contains images of the end product: the play itself. Watching this film that lasts almost four hours, one can almost smell the grease paint, the sweat and the dust, and one is initiated bit by bit into the mystery of the theatre.