L’illusion comique

In his adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s 17th century play, made as a commission for the Comédie Française, Amalric transposes the story of a father looking for his son to a hotel in present-day Paris. Alcandre, the magician contracted by the father, becomes a concierge who uses the building’s numerous surveillance cameras in place of a magic crystal ball to inform Pridament where his son Clindor is. Based on the video footage that jumps back and forward in time, he witnesses the questionable romances and activities of his estranged son, the secretary of a producer of war video games who is supposed to seduce the daughter of a rich businessman. In this fusion of film and theatre, the poetic meter remains the same: the actors speak in alexandrines. (bik)