Life and Death: Peter Brook’s “Moderato Cantabile” After Fifty Years
Abstract
Peter Brook’s Moderato cantabile (1959), based on a novel by M. Duras, is one of the greatest achievements of the French New Wave. The narrative technique applied shows a certain tendency for the theatrical, which is also a hallmark of Brook’s work; in this case the theatrical aspect is found in the narration about narration. The characters relive a love affair, the story of which they tell to themselves. The affair concerns anonymous people involved in a local crime. The emotional experience is extremely intense (minimal means of narrative), and it does not need to be realized in the real world, as it is fulfilled in the narration itself and its final - tragic yet without a tragedy - is a literary, narrative conclusion. The narration in the film takes place on several planes: besides the construction in the imagination, certain narrative themes are provided by the music (Diabelli’s Sonata) and the unconventional use of landscape.
Keywords:
Peter Brook, Marguerite Duras, French New WaveReferences
Duras Marguerite, Moderato cantabile, tłum. Z. Cesul, Warszawa 1998.
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Authors
Krzysztof Lipkakwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
The Chopin University of Music Poland
Muzykolog, historyk sztuki, pisarz i poeta. Autor ok. 20 książek, m.in. Elegie moszczenickie (2000), Pensjonat Barataria (2003), Słyszalny krajobraz (2005) wieloletni redaktor Polskiego Radia; doktoryzował się z nauk humanistycznych o muzyce; w ostatnich latach wykładał na Uniwersytecie Muzycznym Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie.
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