A memory with Jessica Chastain, an exhibition in Chambord, a novel exploring family trauma… Madame Figaro Cultural Week

Memory in the skin

Sylvia, a social worker, former alcoholic and single mother, is followed by a man as she returns from a high school reunion. The next day she found him outside, disoriented; the fifty-year-old girl was suffering from dementia. Sylvia becomes his domestic help, primarily to take revenge. she believes she is responsible for the teenager’s trauma. When he realizes his mistake, he lets his guard down and their relationship takes a romantic turn. But how to live a love condemned to oblivion? How to trust after being mistreated? How can you accept putting yourself in danger when your balance hangs in the balance? “I didn’t want a concept like ‘she can’t forget anything, she can’t remember’, but rather two characters who have to face a big challenge with their situation, society and society telling them to stay at home and avoid trouble – says director Michel Franco A memory. Unvarnished, literally and figuratively, Jessica Chastain rocks as the reserved but empathetic woman opposite the stunning Peter Sarsgaard and rightly wins the Volpi trophy for Best Actor at Mostra 2023. M.L.

A memoryWith Michelle Franco, Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard…

Julien des Monstiers, out of time

Among many artists, including Philippe Cohn, Lydi Arikx or Lionel Sabaté and his secret Pollens in 2023, Chambord National Estate invites Julien de Monstier for a residency followed by an exhibition this summer. Chambord, this Renaissance treasure, compared to a “diamond hidden in the forest”, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. The exhibition Inside out presents more than thirty works, some of which are specially produced. Julien des Monstiers, born in 1983 in Limoges, graduated Beaux-Arts in 2008 (workshop of Jean-Michel Alberola), is an artist whose approach to oil painting is innovative. The superposition of solid colors, especially the complement of orange and blue, makes for a temporary coexistence. These modern motifs seem to come from the distant past. Hunting scenes, animal scenes, floral decorations, tapestries… resonate with the walls of the castle, a dialogue with the spirit of the place. The artist works with a delay technique, back and forth. He first paints his paintings on a plexiglass plate with a first transfer (still with fresh oil paint) onto glass paper. It then transfers the pattern onto the canvas by applying pressure. The result: real or fantastic animals, an interweaving of abstract patterns, a hymn to color. L.K.

Inside out, from May 26 to November 3 at Chateau de Chambord. chambord.org:

Shocking trauma

It is always very risky to simultaneously tell the story of a loved one and the journey of memory and the emotions leading up to it. Here the miracle happens: the analytical approach and the romantic merge intensively. The author tried all his life to understand why his mother does not love him. Not to be beaten or deprived of care, but, and perhaps even worse, to be neglected, to be treated with ultimate, abysmal indifference. The question of this exciting novel arises as follows. How did a little girl who was so gifted at the piano and in life become a grown woman who is submissive to her husband and unable to be a mother? In a Russian-Jewish family from Odessa to Antwerp, Germaine Chamisot’s rather happy routine was turned upside down on May 10, 1940, when Germany invaded Belgium. Hiding for more than a year by some French villagers, the family, after many trials, managed to sail to Marseilles and reach America. Germain resumes his studies in New York and prepares to become a great pianist. But repeated exiles, fear and excessive insecurity have broken the child and the adult. How many generations does it take for the wave of trauma to disappear? This novel shows how close yesterday is and how important it is to trace the traces, especially the traces of our parents, to identify the defining forks, to assess the devastating damage, to try to put an end to it. We know that the mystery of mothers who fail to love their children is both unfathomable and poignant. This story takes its persistent light from the love of writing and meetings, the hope of endurance, the audacity of confession. IP:

The last ship to AmericaBy Karine Lambert, Éditions de la Belle Étoile, 352 p., €21.90.