LOUISE • AIX-EN-PROVENCE
★★★★☆☆
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
REVIEW LOUISE: ELSA DRESIG SHINES AT THE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
Elsa Dresig is outstanding in the title role of the French signature opera Louise in Christof Loy’s production at the iconic open-air theatre in Aix-en-Provence.
Aix-en-Provence is located half an hour’s drive north of Marseille and is one of the most beautiful cities in Provence. In this haven of aesthetics and gastronomy, an opera festival is being held for the 77th time, ranking among the best of its kind in Europe.
Got to see this was invited to star director Christof Loy’s new production of French composer Gustave Charpentier’s Louise, one of the most performed French operas for more than half a century before fading into the background in the 1960s.
The opera, which premiered in 1900, is on the surface a rather banal love story between two lovers who are not allowed to be together.
The story is framed by a tribute to Paris around the turn of the century. In this way, the whole thing, also musically, is somewhat reminiscent of La Traviata and La Bohème, but with a slightly more grim undertone.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Louise is a complex psychological drama that unfolds between a father who loves his daughter more than is good for him. The relationship is framed by a repressed mother and a guy from the neighbouring property who wants to be Louise’s number one. An arty type named Julian, who is a mixture of grand gestures, pseudo-intellectual artistic mannerisms and hot air.
However, the real couple in the story are the father and daughter. At the heart of the story is their desperate struggle to break free from each other and escape the unhealthy relationship they both seem to be caught up in.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Christof Loy has staged the story in a kind of waiting room at a psychiatric hospital, where it slowly dawns on us that Louise is a patient. Everything we see turns out to be gruesome flashbacks from a foggy, Freudian nightmare.
Large chorus scenes enliven the superficially somewhat single-minded plot, which feels long throughout the opera’s four acts and three and a half hours of playing time. Louise is not an opera by definition, but a musical novel that suffers a little from a lack of songs, to put it simply.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
The exception is the famous aria Depuis le jour, which is part of the concert repertoire of all the great sopranos today and played an important role in the cult film Diva, which was super cool in the 1980s.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Four stars for Louise, who strives so earnestly for personal and sexual freedom. Whether she achieves her goal remains to be seen, as the performance closes on an ominous, dark note with the title character standing in an open window facing the street…
