Word: ets
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...REVIEW of the premiere (1902) of Pelleas et Melisande complained of the work's "constant nebulosity" and of its "monotonous recitative, unbearable and moribund," remarks which are critical failures because they judge Debussy's original work by precisely the musical conventions which he renounced. His opera eschews the sumptuous polyphony, turgid mythologism, city-directory leit-motives, and vertiginous romanticism of the Ring. Debussy seeks a deeper organicism in which music is not grafted onto drama or drama is used as suggestion for musical contours, but rather where music and poetry are absorbed one into the other to yield an operatic...
...with elusive charm, silly yet ruled by fears; Golaud, the main character, is the visible agent of impulsive rages and unanswered atonement. The general atmosphere is one of sombre death and the expectation of death, illuminated only briefly by an abortive infatuation. The problem with scenic representation of Pelleas et Melisande is that its intense symbolism may lead scenic intermediaries either to leave one with vaporous visual suggestions, which cause bewilderment, or with disfiguring interpretations, which cause exasperation. The main problem with the Conservatory production was its reliance on an unimaginatively employed diorama yielding only the sun and moon...
...seems to me that the farther out in space we go, the more we need to have something to hold onto-stars just don't make good straphangers! Catholics et al. should not forget 2,000 years of practical psychology that worked-not to mention that "out" word "faith...
Like the ugly men, the other nice things about this picture are also strange. In its slick color photography, advertising campaign, title and plot, Hot Millions gives the appearance of being yet another film of the glamorous grand robbery mode (Charade, How to Steal a Million, Gambit, et al). But, for all these superficial indications, this movie has little to do with beautiful people or even money. Not only that, but it's a suspense film with little suspense; a comedy with few big laughs; a love story with no flesh. And Hot Millions characters are the kind of people...
...Murs ont la Parole n'atteint peut-etre toute son importance documentaire que pour ceux qui sont inities a la pensee de Stanley Hoffmann, mais memes les non-inities y trouveront de quoi s'amuser et s'emouvoir: ce "journal mural" d'une revolution estudiantine manquee nous adresse tous la parole...