A look back at the highlights of the opening ceremony

Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner, their eyes fixed on the flame of their lives, set the Paris sky ablaze. The high point of four hours of a unique ceremony. When more than a billion viewers are watching you, it is good form to impress from the start, with the Pont d’Austerlitz in all its majesty. Some were in the front row to admire a postcard Paris. The artistic director of the ceremony wanted to break the codes. Marie-Antoinette loses her mind to the sound of the guitars and drums of the metal group Gojira. A nice counterpoint too when Zinédine Zidane goes down to take the metro, flame in hand. Or when Lady Gaga, dressed all in feathers, sings Zizi Jeanmaire.

But also when Aya Nakamura leaves the Académie française and sways alongside the Republican Guard. But also disconcerting and transgressive, like Philippe Katerine’s performance. The rainy weather is quickly forgotten when the athletes of the French delegation enter the stage, cheered like rock stars. Disco-electro atmosphere at the Trocadéro, before the emotional moment. Four years since we last heard Céline Dion sing. The sky could well collapse, nothing was going to tarnish this evening. Paris is a party, a sort of enchanted interlude.