French Literature Reviews - 2026
A.-F. Benhamou, Patrice Chéreau: Representing the Real
Theatre and Performance
Review published in Acta Fabula (April 2016, vol. 17, no. 3): "Living in the Present" by Édouard Bourdelle.
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Anne-Françoise Benhamou, Patrice Chéreau: Representing the Real
Besançon: Les Solitaires intempestifs, "Du Désavantage du vent" series, 2015.
EAN 9782846814461.
192 p.
Publisher's description:
The essays collected in this volume view the work of Patrice Chéreau as an artistic universe in constant reinvention, from his debut in the 1960s to his final creations. Whether exploring his relationship with the actor, the image, the text, the spectator, or the political dimension of his work, they link Chéreau’s art to his unwavering desire to “tell stories”—that is, to share the experience of the real.
Anne-Françoise Benhamou is a dramaturg and professor of theatre studies at the École normale supérieure.
Patrice Chéreau was born in 1944 and spent his childhood in Paris with parents who were both painters, inheriting from them a love of the arts. He began his career in theatre at the age of twenty-one.
“Few men and artists have lived so intensely and left behind such a commanding legacy: there were directors, and then there was Patrice Chéreau. Not that he was always the best, but he was always elsewhere, right where he was least expected. Working on all fronts—theatre, opera, cinema—he revolutionized the vision of Wagner's Ring, directed several beautiful films, including The Wounded Man, Queen Margot, and Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train... as well as unforgettable theatrical productions, from La Dispute to I Am the Wind, by way of In the Solitude of Cotton Fields.” — Brigitte Salino, Le Monde.
Patrice Chéreau stands as one of the most commanding and versatile directors in modern European culture, leaving a transformative legacy across theatre, opera, and film. Anne-Françoise Benhamou, a distinguished dramaturg and professor of theatre studies at the École normale supérieure, brings her critical expertise to bear on Chéreau's sustained reinvention of stagecraft. This collection of essays examines his intricate engagement with performers, visual imagery, dramatic texts, and audiences, framing his entire oeuvre as a continuous, urgent exploration of contemporary reality and political consciousness.
This volume will be of particular value to scholars, students, and practitioners of modern theatre and performance studies, as well as cinephiles interested in the intersection of staging, narrative, and visual arts. By contextualising Chéreau's journey from his 1960s debut to his final works, the book sheds light on the collaborative dynamics of directing and the enduring power of storytelling on stage and screen. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of twentieth-century European artistic movements and the mechanics of theatrical representation will find this collection an indispensable resource.