The Affaire’s Prompter

  • March 22, 2015 / 15:00
  • March 28, 2015 / 17:00

Artist: Isabelle Prim
France, 50’, 2014
French with Turkish subtitles

What could Méliès’ first colourised film, a fire at the Grand Bazar de la Charité and the opening night of Cyrano de Bergerac have in common? Who really wrote Edmond Rostand’s play? Is it all related somehow to the death of Italian anarchist and prompter Ildebrando Biribo, found dead in his prompt box on the night of the first performance, on 28 December 1897? The plot is labyrinthine, or rather, subterranean. Indeed, the camera takes us through tunnels, cellars, sewers, and secret passages that are reminiscent of both the prompter’s hideout and the twists and turns of a case which easily bears comparison with the best 19th century serials, not least Les Mystères de Paris (The Mysteries of Paris). To guide us, there is a prompter, one of those who cue actors up above from below; here, it’s dramatist Edmond Rostand himself, who is out of ideas for plays, and tormented by actress Sarah Bernhardt, played by Clotilde Hesme. Except that this prompter, at once a character in the film and a strange lecturer who recreates the case for us, isn’t hiding himself in the least. On the contrary, he literally invites himself in the film and speaks directly to us and to the characters turned actors, while relating the events that led to his death, which has never been solved. So, does the mystery remain unexplained? Maybe not. Because the prompter’s death marks perhaps the beginning of modernity. Is the file closed, then? No, because Isabelle Prim proves with this film that the inspiration lives on. (Céline Guenot)

 

Everyday Life

Everyday Life

The Film Of Questions

The Film Of Questions

Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses

The Affaire’s Prompter

The Affaire’s Prompter

Alan Vega, Just A Million Dreams

Alan Vega, Just A Million Dreams

Tarnation

Tarnation

Cecile Paris<br/>Selected Videos

Cecile Paris
Selected Videos

Honest Experience

Honest Experience

Rational Medicine in Byzantium

Rational Medicine in Byzantium

Byzantine medical art was grounded in the Greco-Roman medicine transmitted by Hippocrates and Galen and new concepts introduced by such physicians as Oribasios of Pergamon, Aetius of Amida, Alexander of Tralles and Paul of Aegina. 

A Carriage and a Squat House  <br>Liliana Maresca

A Carriage and a Squat House
Liliana Maresca

Pera Museum, in collaboration with Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), is one of the main venues for this year’s 15th Istanbul Biennial from 16 September to 12 November 2017. Through the biennial, we will be sharing detailed information about the artists and the artworks.

Istanbul’s Historical Peninsula in 18th and 19th Century Paintings

Istanbul’s Historical Peninsula in 18th and 19th Century Paintings

With the Topkapı Palace, the center of political authority until the 19th century, and many other examples of classical Ottoman and Byzantine architecture included in its premise the Historical Peninsula is the heart of the Empire.