Art

Product Information

The Polanski film, called simply Carnage, is remarkably faithful to the original. Despite the setting having been transferred from Paris to Brooklyn, much of the dialogue remains and the bulk of the action takes place within four, claustrophobic apartment walls. The themes of this play, art and friendship, are subjects of enormous emotional value and conflict, so it is difficult to be stoical about them. Critics interpret Yvan’s statement about nothing great or beautiful ever being born of rational argument in different ways. Reza’s plays are called comedies, but she calls them “funny tragedies” and regards “Art” as heartbreaking.

Marc: Marc is a strongly opinionated man when it comes to what he values and an extremely condescending one towards what he does not value at all. Other people’s feelings do not factor into his decisions or filter the manner in which he talks to them and about them. Only his girlfriend and her homeopathic remedies for stress seem to have any sway over his strong and acerbic personality. On his wall above his mantel hangs a figurative painting that is described as “pseudo-Flemish” of a view of Carcassonne. Marc, appalled to hear that Serge had paid two hundred thousand francs, scornfully describes it as "a piece of white shit". Serge argues that the painting, created by a reputable artist, is worth its hefty price, but Marc remains unconvinced.

Tagged In This Story

Yvan visits Marc at his apartment, where a landscape painting hangs on the wall. Yvan tells Marc that he saw Serge’s new painting and that he did not like it, nor did he hate it. Marc asks Yvan if Serge’s painting makes him happy. In September 1997, her first novel, Hammerklavier, was published and another work of fiction, Une Désolation, was published in 2001. Her 2007 work L'Aube le Soir ou la Nuit ( Dawn Evening or Night), written after a year of following the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy, caused a sensation in France. [14] Busco desesperadamente un amigo que me preexista. Hasta ahora no he tenido suerte. He tenido que moldearlos… Pero ves, tampoco funciona. Yasmina Reza: Please stop laughing at me, by Agnes Poirier: Independent on Sunday, 16 March 2008 [1]

The play, is about ideas – what is modern art and what is its value? How do we approach art, how do we relate to it and place a price on it? Does art fuel our soul? Or is art nothing more than absurd – rather expensive – preoccupation for the rich? Reza’s play lets these three circle each other, two always ganging up against one. They tear strips off one another, lay into shortcomings and insecurities. It’s savage, but it’s almost too self-possessed. The argument turns round and round. It spins on one person, then the next, as Reza rotates the upper hand, always, but always, in control. Her writing is calculated. Her characters exist solely to be toyed with. On 24 November 2007, her play Le Dieu du Carnage ( God of Carnage), directed by Jürgen Gosch and performed first in Zürich, received the Viennese Nestroy Theatre Prize for the best German-language performance of the season. [11] It opened in London in March 2008, directed by Matthew Warchus in a translation by Christopher Hampton starring Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott. [15] It was produced once again by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers. The London production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, which Hampton accepted on her behalf. Hampton told the audience that Reza would be thrilled by the win. [16] The play premiered on Broadway with an opening night cast of James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, and Hope Davis. God of Carnage won Best Play at the 2009 Tony Awards.

Latest Articles

Art" is a play that is about many things; however I don't believe that it is about art and artists. Rather those are the devices that playwright Yasmina Reza uses to develop her themes in this text. "Art" is a work about the subjective nature of human relationships, friendship in particular. Polanski," she replies without hesitation. "I adore him." It is not the first time the two of them have joined forces – Reza translated Polanski's stage version of Kafka's Metamorphosis in the late 1980s at his request – but I wonder if she had any scruples about working with him either time. "Scruples?" she asks, apparently mystified. Yes, did she feel uncomfortable about the fact that Polanski is wanted in the States on six criminal counts, including the rape of a 13-year-old girl (as a result of which, Carnage had to be filmed in Paris)? "No, I had no scruples," Reza replies. "It went very well writing with him… we are identical. We don't discuss 'the meaning'; we discuss the instinct."

Art raises a whole series of unresolved questions about modern art. Serge buys an apparently pure white canvas by a fashionable artist for 200,000 francs. His old chum, Marc, think it’s a piece of hud. Yves, their common friend, tries to reconcile their views and only succeeds in antagonizing both of them. Yet it is such questions or lines of enquiry that act as the secret to the play’s success. We are connected with it because we – as an audience and society at large – are dumbfounded at the price some modern painting fetch especially those which are described as conceptual or minimal art. Perhaps age has mellowed her. Perhaps it is that we are doing the interview in French so she feels more comfortable expressing herself. Perhaps she's just having a good day. Whatever the reason, there is no sign of the spiky harridan I had been expecting. How, I wonder, has this idea of Reza gained credence? Later, Serge and Marc work together to clean the blue ink off the white painting. Alone, Serge admits that he knew all along that the ink would wash off but that he lied to Marc and said he had not known. Serge expresses guilt at not being truthful with Marc about this. Serge’s last line in the play is ‘‘Why does my relationship with Marc have to be so complicated?’’

Yasmina Reza, écrivain d' "Art": De son père, juif séfarade, mi-russe, mi-iranien, dont le grand-père jouait aux échecs dans les caravansérails de Samarkand. In monologues, Yvan reveals apprehension about his upcoming wedding, Serge is defensive about his painting, and Marc decides that he should behave more nicely to Serge. However, Serge ruins everything by telling Marc that Yvan liked the painting and by saying that Yvan agrees that Marc is humorless. Marc remains polite, but their conversation is poisonous. The three are supposed to have dinner together.