Scoop! The adaptation of Malade Imaginaire which is currently being played at the Théâtre de Paris is really worth the detour. In summary, if you were to see only one, it would be this one.
Like a fish in water, Daniel Auteuil stages and embodies with disarming naturalness this character as clumsy as he is sympathetic, who grumbles, complains and above all takes pleasure in his misfortune.
This satire of doctors, ridiculous with their pompous Latin jargon, their make-up and their big hats, turns out to be as modern as ever. A little treat.
Previously in “le salon d'Argan” ...
Hypochondriac before the Eternal, Argan is surrounded by doctors who cheerfully take advantage of his neuroses. To reassure himself, he wishes to marry his daughter Angélique to a future doctor, as serious as a razor. Except that her elder sister is already under the spell of the handsome Cléante .
Meanwhile, the second wife of Argan, authentic michetonneuse camped by Natalia Dontcheva, seeks to be a good place on the will of her husband, and send her two children to the convent. But the servant Toinette ( Aurore Auteuil , the daughter) is watching.
A calibrated staging
We often have an ego problem when the director also plays the main role (we will not mention names…). Yet here, Daniel Auteuil highlights all the secondary characters, willingly stepping aside in favor of the (excellent) play of his partners. A great lesson in humility and professionalism #passionDaniel.
The “Did you know?” Minute
On the evening of the fourth performance of Le Malade imaginaire in February 1673, Molière played Argan on stage. Ironically for this play which deals with the fear of death, he is seized with convulsions and dies a few hours later at home. It is therefore the very last play by the legendary Jean-Baptiste Poquelin .
The quote to meditate
“ Nature, of itself, when we let it be, gently pulls itself out of the mess into which it has fallen. It is our anxiety, it is our impatience that spoils everything; and almost all men die of their remedies, and not of their diseases. ”- Béralde, act III, scene III.
Wednesday to Saturday at 8:30 p.m., Saturday at 5:00 p.m., Sunday at 3:30 p.m. From € 28. Reservations on www.indiv.themisweb.fr
© Julien Panié
Find all the information on the imaginary patient at the Paris theater
Also discover Carmen at the Opéra Bastille and the must-see shows .
