I admit it, I became a child again watching the official opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games (which I had the good idea to watch on a delayed basis, which allowed me to skip the commercials!). My senses were only interested in this grandiose spectacle and the radiant faces of the athletes parading by the thousands, on a choreography of boats that made the Seine a majestic tableau, which will remain etched in my memory for a long time.
So many magical, moving numbers: that of women erected as statues, in a sort of reparation of history (and who, by a donation to the City of Light, are dedicated to longevity); that of the heavy metal group Gojira, associated with the lyrical singer Marina Viotti, on the balconies of La Conciergerie; that of the singer Juliette Armanet performing the song Conceived on a drifting boat (and Sofiane Pamart’s piano literally on fire — the moment of grace!); that of this centenarian athlete in a wheelchair, to whom the torch was passed; this party in honor of the gods of Olympus personified by drag queens and the priceless Philippe Katerine; that, dazzling, of a silver rider, perched on a metal horse galloping on the water; that of all these characters usually frozen in their museum who came out to get some air to greet the whole world…
A giant nightclub, yes, in the open air. Under a steady rain, which not only did not get the better of the magic, but often transcended it (the rain bouncing off Alexandre Kantorow’s piano playing Water sports, by Ravel: a pure moment of poetry!). And of course, “our” Céline, in a masterful performance that commanded respect, to whom we had offered, to dress her Ode to love, nothing less than the Eiffel Tower! A tower that will probably remember forever… In short, a perfect score (as long as we stayed focused on this explosion of creativity and didn’t check social networks too much!).
To see in video