What's in a film?

Last night I went to see Two Pianos, a newish French film.

Since my novel, DUET FOR ONE, features a husband and wife two piano team—Victor and Adele Pearl—you can imagine I was interested.

The film opens with pianist Mathias Vogler (played by François Civil) returning to Lyon after a long absence. He reconnects with his elderly mentor, Elena Auden (played by Charlotte Rampling). They are preparing for a concert featuring Max Bruch’s Concerto for Two Pianos. If you want to hear the full score, listen to French sisters Katia and Marielle Labècque here.

The Bruch begins with assertive chords, and then goes into a single line which begins a fugue. A fugue is a sort of a musical game of rounds, but more complicated. A melody is introduced and then picked up by another instrument (or, in the case of a solo piano, another hand) and all kinds of variations occur—often simultaneously—including turning the melody upside down and inside out, and elongating or shortening the tempo.

Early on, Mathias lapses into an emotional and alcoholic bender. Teacher Elena chastises Mathias about his playing during the Bruch fugue, signalling Mathias’s fugue state. Things take off from there.

As François Civil said during an interview on French television, ce film, c’est un blockbuster de l’émotion (this film is an emotional blockbuster). I agree. If you love angsty, sexy French melodrama, replete with lots of broken hearts, this one’s for you.

Spoilers prevent saying much more. I was, however, intrigued by Elena’s statement that to become a pianist is to become a monster. I think she means that pianists live in fealty to the piano—being a soloist is a life unto itself. This total commitment to one’s art is a theme I have explored in both THREE MUSES and DUET FOR ONE.

At the end of the film, Elena begins her final solo recital with a piece by Debussy, which you can hear here. Mathias blows an audition by playing a piece by Bach instead of Chopin. It so happens that a while ago, I featured the pianist Lang Lang giving an exquisite performance of this Bach selection on my Substack. Here it is again for your listening pleasure.

And speaking of France.… We live not too far from the French ambassador’s residence in DC. Here it is, decked out for Bastille Day, replete with two classic Citroëns, lighting, and the tricolor. We tiptoed over to look through the gates. The guests were celebrating in style despite having just lost to Spain in the World Cup.

Here’s a short video I made about our neighborhood Visibility Brigade. If you want to join a Visibility Brigade [or similar], check out here and here.

If you want to contribute to an organization in Maine, please consider the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition. Biddeford was formerly a quiet suburb of Portland. No community—not Biddeford, not anywhere—should be subject to the violence of this heinous regime.

With love,

Martha

P.S. ICYMI, here’s my most recent newsletter/Substack, “What’s in a word?”

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