Thinking Politics

Tonight's program has been composed by and for grown-ups who are children at heart. Eternal history, the tale of Belle-Rose. Also known as Beauty and the Beast.

Whaling has been around for centuries. It seems to be the fruit of man’s violence, destroying himself by destroying nature. Accompanying the rise of capitalism, the practice survives today, reflecting humans’ eternal destructiveness of nature and the creatures unable to resist them.

Lucas is a 17-year-old gay teenager coping with the sudden and unexpected death of his father in an accident that may or may not have been suicide. He views his life as a wild animal in need of taming. Between a brother settled in Paris and a mother with whom he now lives alone, Lucas will have to fight to rediscover hope and love.

Master filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) transforms a portrait of the world-renowned museum into a magisterial, centuries-spanning reflection on the relation between art, culture and power.

After 20 years of marriage, Maria decides to leave her husband. She moves into room 212 at the hotel across the street, with a bird’s-eye view of her apartment, her husband and the life she shared with him. While she wonders if she made the right decision, many of the people in her life offer their opinions on the matter. They intend to let her know, whether she likes it or not, on what proves to be a life-changing evening.

Pressured from all sides by the figure of her father, Chiara Mastroianni decides to bring him back to life through her own self. She goes by the name of Marcello, dresses like him and asks to now be considered an actor, not an actress. The people around her believe this to be a temporary joke, but Chiara is determined not to give up her new identity…

Tom, 11 years old, lives in a trailer home on the edge of the woods with Joss, his young mother. The two of them support each other and show unwavering optimism. While Joss is away working small jobs, Tom keeps himself occu- pied. One day, a young man fresh out of prison breaks into their home and their lives, and disrupts the equilibrium.

A ghost tries to make contact with a poet. At the reception center for minors in Pont-Bragnolles (which is actually an orphanage, but that word is not said there) Thomas invents, Thomas fantasizes.

Paris, sum­mer 2020. Actors from “la Comédie-Française”, France’s most pres­ti­gious the­ater, rehearse Christophe Hon­oré’s new play, an adap­ta­tion of Mar­cel Proust’s “The Guer­mantes Way”. When the show is sud­den­ly can­celed, the dra­ma group decides to go ahead with it any­way, in the name of art and for the joy of act­ing together.

London, today. A refugee washes up naked in a suitcase on the bank of the Thames. The enigmatic, sexually fluid stranger introduces himself to a bourgeois, upper-class family, who invite him to stay on as an employee. The Visitor soon seduces each member in a series of explicit sexual encounters. He will turn their world upside down as they can redefine themselves in new, radical ways.

Build. Rebuild. Grieve. Buy a green plant.

The Puig family has seven children. And today is the wedding of the youngest: Jacques. It's March 1978 in a church in a suburb of Nantes. The father isn't attending the wedding; he's been banished from the family. Jacques is marrying Martine, a young woman who lives in the same neighborhood. It's a love match. But can love heal the wounds of childhood?

The lives of a group of sex-workers.

Passionate by Japanese pop culture, Fleur returns to her hometown to announce some big news to her family: she's moving to Tokyo. But there, no one has ever supported Fleur during her transition. Except for her cousin Noé who could become the ally she needs.

Elisabeth Raymond has left us... To add to the misfortune of the villagers, the body of the teenager has disappeared. Her boyfriend Victor is devastated. Fortunately, André, Elisabeth’s big brother, is there to support him. The two boys go looking for the body. But what they don't know is that Elizabeth has returned from the dead.

Jean, a young videographer, turns to arms and revolts after the death of a friend during a police arrest. While imprisoned and awaiting trial, spirits visit him.