Every Holland Festival there is at least 1 performance which a lot of people wonder why it is programmed. This year, that honour falls to 'Bestiaire d'Amour' by and starring Isabella Rosselini. We take a moment to look for answers.
1: So it is Isabella Rosselini.
At the risk that there will be people exclaiming over their energy drinks "Who ze f*** iz Izabella Rozzelini?!", most of the Holland Festival audience will go to this performance for her name alone. It is, after all, The Girl from Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart By David Lynch. A whole generation was initiated with that. The generation that first awoke with cocktails from the macramé nests of the 1970s. For their parents, it will always remain the daughter of Ingrid Bergman. The one from Casablanca.
2: So it is about something.
She was the girl of Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart and became the Face of make-up brand Lancôme for 14 years. After that, try doing another serious film career. Isabella figured that out too, and so she chose to exploit her university studies in ethology (Animal Behaviourology). And instead of going after Jane Goodall, and living with gorillas, who, incidentally, also turn out to be exceptionally small wallpapered, she decided to give public lectures, all of which combined her reputation as a kinky film star with her genuine concern for the environment, animals and the future. Funny. In a nursing home kind of way.
3: So Jean Claude Carrière did co-write.
That's quite a name. The man is pretty much single-handedly responsible for the entire modern French cinema of the last century. He wrote almost all of them, or collaborated on them. However, what exactly he contributed to 'Berstiaire d'Amour' is highly vague.
4: So she does make incredibly cute videos
True. Kind of Theo and Thea without Thea and Theo. But with thus that vaguely kinky reputation Rosselini has inherited from her David Lynch days. Those movies are indeed distinctive. Nice animations, nicely designed.Touching.
So why doesn't it work?
In 1 moment, Isabella Rosselini gets personal. When she shows a picture of her mother and explains that people sometimes say that it is not always possible to make progress in evolution. That nature does not aim for progress either, but for adaptation, for diversification. Here, for a moment, the Daughter Of... shines through. And we all know how hard those have it. For us, discerning onlookers, that one moment of possible vulnerability is just a little too little to really embrace Isabella in our arms. And that's what we had actually come for. I think.
After all, for true nature erotica, we have the BBC.
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