Patricia Reznikov’s novel… Madame Figaro Culture Week.

Laughter therapy

In front of the camera, Reda Kateb is a quiet force capable of navigating social narratives (Hippocrates, The promises) in comedies (Fuzzy love, Lobster strawberry…), cult films (Prophet, Zero Dark Thirty) in the main series (In therapy), biographical (Django) in an action movie (The song of the wolf). This time as a director, he shows his ability to manage laughter and emotions. For: On a threadhis first feature film, the actor places the camera in the corridors of a hospital, meeting clowns who try to raise the morale of sick children. Based on the reality of the association The laughing doctorthe director imagines the arrival of an acrobat in the ranks of these altruistic artists. Circassian in training and already seen on the screens Exceptionally or series Property: (alongside Reda Kateb), singer Aloise Savage plays this student who guides the viewer to find a balancing act where it is sometimes difficult to find a healthy safety distance. The film brilliantly recreates the conflicting emotions faced when interacting with children and their families, from the greatest fits of laughter to the inevitable moments of anxiety and despair. M.L.

On a threadBy Reda Kateb, with Alois Sauvage, Philippe Rebot…

Visual dialogues

One of our favorite photography festivals is held by the sea in mid-autumn, in the land of Marcel Proust and Gustave Flaubert (among others); this is undoubtedly something that gives Planches Contact something sentimentally impressive and enveloping. Based in Deauville, this festival has chosen to look towards nature, by land and sea, some of the invited artists spend time in the region and show what they have caught, understood and not even learned. The 2024 edition leaves plenty of room for Dominik Issermann and also gives you the chance to meet the genius Harry Gruyert during the seminar. His latest work, A sense of placeindicates a renewal of the view, even closer to everyday life. Among the other guests, note the fascinating work of the young Frenchwoman Sarah Imloo, on the border between photography and plastic practice. You should not miss the concert of photographer Alyssa Resnick and musician David Bryant (a member of the Canadian experimental rock group). Godspeed you ! Black Emperor). And you will have to spend time in the heart of the festival, Les Franciscaines, this cultural place that many towns in Deauville must envy. J.G.

Contact Boards – Deauville Photography Festival, until January 5th. plankscontact.fr:

To be or not to be

The true identity of the author of Shakespeare’s plays remains one of the most significant and enduring literary mysteries. Many doubt whether the famous “Bard of Stratford” is the real author of the phenomenal work. But then, who? This wonderful novel, both literate and light, is inspired by the work of Lamberto Tassinari, according to which Shakespeare is John Florio, a Protestant Italian of Jewish origin, a linguist and translator, exiled in London and crown prince to the British, who had every reason. , to ensure his safety, write masked…

Benjamin is a modern academic whose lover, a Danish woman named Juliet, has just left. He falls into a deep melancholy when Andrea, an old Italian friend, tells him about a strange manuscript written in Turin during the Fascist years, of which only one copy has survived, and which contains revelations about Shakespeare. This novel within a novel takes us into the daily life of a Renaissance man in the heart of the Elizabethan world. Questions of religion and power, court intrigue, the influence of Italian culture at a time when the English language was really being invented, all in a bubbling London battled by the plague and a raging aristocratic and popular passion for the theatre. The very one symbolized by Shakespeare’s plays. And Benjamin begins to dream, imagining John Florio’s sister, Juliet, who would combine her talent with her brother’s… Games of mirrors and mise en abyme, here we are wonderfully told about the love of words and mysteries. IP:

Julia ShakespeareBy Patricia Reznikov, Éditions Grasset, 336 p., €22.