Olympic Games Opening Ceremony | Magic in Paris in the Rain

(Paris) “If you asked me, I would go and get the moon,” sang Celine Dion in the Eiffel Tower on Friday evening, during the last minutes of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games.

That’s what the evening’s organizers did. They pulled it off, the Moon. They succeeded in an idea that seemed impossible: to present a majestic show on water, land and rooftops, on a six-kilometer stage, in front of 320,000 spectators, in a capital that has been in “terrorist emergency” mode for three months. All this in pouring rain, no less.

The two big stars of this evening?

The city of Paris, of course, more beautiful than ever in the eyes of artistic director Thomas Jolly. But also Celine Dion, who was making her comeback on stage, four years after her last singing tour. The Quebec diva, who suffers from stiff person syndrome, gave the most moving performance of the ceremony. A breathtaking interpretation of theOde to lovea classic by Edith Piaf that she had already sung at the American Music Awards in 2015, in tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks.

This time, it was in a more festive context. Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner had just lit the Olympic cauldron under a large balloon at the Tuileries, the highlight of the evening. The Eiffel Tower was sparkling. So was Céline, in her gray Dior dress. Throughout the song, the Tower came alive to the singer’s intensity. When Céline began the last phrase – God unites those who love –the Tower began to shine brightly, under dozens of white and pink rays of light.

What was it like from the press box at the Trocadéro, directly facing the Tower? Grandiose. Magical. Giant. A blow to the heart. Certainly the most beautiful artistic moment I have ever witnessed in my life.

It was the exclamation point of a memorable evening, which Thomas Jolly built around unity, peace, respect and diversity. Ode to lovewith its last verse full of hope, fit perfectly into the approach.

“We will have eternity for ourselves/

In the blue of all the immensity/

In the sky, no more problems/

My love, do you think we love each other? /

God unites those who love “

Thomas Jolly wanted that at the end of the show, “we could say to each other, together, it will be fine.” Which is not always easy, these days. As recently as Friday, acts of sabotage disrupted rail traffic in northern France. The authorities described the fires as a “massive attack.” The city, already on high alert due to threats of attacks, was stressed. It was felt in the city center. In the streets of the central districts, Friday afternoon, the police were everywhere. Fortunately, the plan worked. Nothing disrupted the ceremony, except perhaps the rain, which fell heavily after the first hour.

This did not prevent the artists from shining. Among the most successful numbers, that of the singer Aya Nakamura, who set the Pont des Arts alight. That of the heavy metal group Gojira, which blew people away in front of the Conciergerie, a symbolic place of the French Revolution. The interpretation of the Marseillaise by the opera singer Axelle Saint-Cirel, from the roof of the Grand Palais, was poignant.

Another good move: having the Olympians parade in boats on the Seine. It was nice, and it allowed a greater number of Parisians to attend the ceremony. At the end of their journey, the athletes disembarked at the Trocadéro, from where they could follow the ceremony on a giant screen. A rider floating on the Seine came to join them with the Olympic flag. He paraded between the Eiffel Tower and the main podium, under a guard of honor formed by the flag bearers of each country. It was impressive, as was the selection of the last torchbearers, from Zinédine Zidane to Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Nadia Comaneci, Carl Lewis, and then a host of French stars who walked the empty streets of the heart of the capital.

A successful bet, across the board.