Odéon Théâtre de l'Europe

A look at the entire process of creating and developing Patrice Chéreau’s third staging of "In the Solitude of Cotton Fields" by Bernard Marie Koltès with Pascal Greggory and Chéreau himself. From the first reading around the table through the first contact with the performance space, rehearsals and lighting to opening night, the entire creative process unfurls in front of our eyes. The film shows us the evolving and ongoing dialogue between Greggory and Chéreau, a dialogue full of crises and magical moments of harmony and insight via which the truth, intensity, complexity, mystery and depth of Koltès’ text gradually emerge to form an implicit bond between these two men. The film also shows Chéreau directing rehearsals for Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" in Salzburg, revealing both the unity of and profound differences between his opera and theater work.

The originality of the show lies in the gap between the narrative provided by the voice-over (omnipresent) and the visible, concrete actions played on stage by the characters in an almost silent film: their play, sometimes very poetic, transcends narration. As a result, not only is the spectator's emotion intense, but the philosophical reflection on the meaning (s) of the work emerges: since Man sells his thought, his body, his time, in exchange for a salary, since he is constantly in exchange, barter, link, is he a "merchant"? What is he walking towards?