Spectres & Spotlights
23 – 29 August 2025
Saturday 23 August
To Brussels by train. My hotel, the Hoxton Brussels, was located in one of Brussels’s architectural landmarks, known today as the Victoria Tower, designed in the 1970s by Walter Bresseleers to house IBM’s European headquarters. A wonderful example of rethinking Brutalist buildings for contemporary uses. The view from my 18th-floor room was spectacular.
I went to the Château de Karreveld, the outdoor setting where the Bruxellons! Festival has been producing musicals in French for many years. The headliner for 2025 was Rebecca, a work rightly described by the pre-show speaker as a staple of “the continental European style” of musicals… a style I’m not overly fond of, but Rebecca holds a special place in my heart.
It was my first time seeing the show in French (after German, Hungarian and English). The lyrics scanned terribly — except for “Sie ergibt sich nicht”, whose adaptation “Elle est là, encore” sat eerily well on the music. Everything else was first-class: the versatile, elegant unit-set, the amazing 18-strong orchestra, and a cast up to the challenge of bringing those larger-than-life situations on stage.
Sylvester Levay, the composer, was in attendance and expressed his admiration for the production during the curtain calls.
Sunday 24 August
Back to Paris – A small exhibition at the Musée Carnavalet, Agnès Varda’s Paris, charted the way Varda framed Paris as a subject of her photos and films. From her base in rue Daguerre, she was a keen observer of the Parisian cityscapes and of a generation of like-minded artists. A room was dedicated to Cléo de cinq à sept, one of my favourite films, and a love song to Paris.
Thence to La Grande Halle de la Villette for Into the Light, a series of kinetic installations inspired by the concept of light, ranging from the scientific to the playful, often interacting with sound or music. The locale framed the overall experience handsomely.
Finally, I watched Rebecca (1940), Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Daphné Du Maurier’s novel, which boasts superior performances by A-list actors, superb cinematography, and a major contribution by Franz Waxman, the composer of the soundtrack.
Monday 25 August
Paris – Finished reading Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others, a fascinating read, if only for its continued relevance more than twenty years after publication.
A long-time thinker about how war photography is used and interpreted, Sontag dismantles the myth that the camera lens provides an objective account. A photograph may seem like a fleeting capture of reality, but it is always marked by intention — whether that of the photographer, the editor, or the viewer.
Can that intention fulfil Virginia Woolf’s hope, expressed in Three Guineas, that photographs might help bring an end to war? Sontag seems doubtful, or at least suggests that it requires a will to shock. After all, as she observes, “There is beauty in ruins.”
Tuesday 26 August
Paris – Volker Schlöndorff’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale bears the unmistakable mark of the 1980s — they say everything comes back in cycles, but will those hairdos? Beyond its period look, the film feels strikingly familiar to a viewer of the Netflix series. Harold Pinter penned the script, yet his voice is difficult to detect, and he left a few rough edges, with plot points that don’t completely make sense. The soundtrack comprises two Rodgers & Hart standards… as well as an unexpected Les Rita Mitsouko title.
Wednesday 27 August
Paris – Eighty years after the Hitchcock film, Netflix thought Rebecca needed a new adaptation, but this remake largely fails to open fresh perspectives. The efforts to grant the nameless heroine more agency feel awkward at best. Ann Dowd, the familiar Aunt Lydia from Netflix’s The Handmaid’s Tale, makes a strong impression as Mrs. Van Hopper. Remarkably, the soundtrack incorporates a song written by Maurice Yvain, “Billets doux.”
Thursday 28 August
Paris – Even if I sometimes find Yasmina Reza’s writing a touch annoying, there is no denying the runaway success of “Art.” The play raises sharp questions about friendship… and perhaps about contemporary art as well… while its blend of humour and seriousness can be gleefully incisive. The new production at the Théâtre Montparnasse has assembled a great cast that bites into Reza’s every word with obvious delight.
Friday 29 August
Paris – The theatre is rarely more powerful than when it introduces us to extraordinary characters. Russian-born flamenco dancer Sylvin Rubinstein (1914–2011), whose life was derailed by the Holocaust, is one such figure. Dolores, the intimate play inspired by his story and presented at the Théâtre La Bruyère, succeeds in weaving narrative and emotion with striking effect.
And so, for now, the lights dim… until the next act.