L’illusion comique

In the eight years that Mathieu Amalric had to wait to complete Tournée (Best Director at Cannes 2010), the actor/director was commissioned by the Comédie Française to make this adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s 1635 play. A tour de force considering the alexandrines in which Corneille wrote the story, maintained in the new version. L’illusion comique, part of a series of contemporary theatre films by the Comédie, tells the story of a father looking for a son who left home years before. In order to find out what he’s doing, the father hires a magician: the concierge of a hotel, where a room with security cameras replaces the old magic crystal ball. Travelling back and forth in time, the video shots reveal the son’s large, tragicomic life. The continuous play of watching and being watched, fiction and reality, turn L’illusion comique into a homage to the playwright and theatrical illusion.

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