PAPILLONS DE NUIT
Direction: Charlotte Joulia
Choreography and Dance: Fatou Traoré and Claudio Bernardo
Music: Pierre Vasseur
Camera: Remon Fromont
Editing: Elif Uluengin
Sound: Marc Engels
Produced by ADV Productions
35mm - 8’11” - Color
“Papillons de Nuit” by Charlotte Joulia is a short movie derived from a Persian tale. It has in common with the famous cartoon film by Raoul Servais not only the title but also an equal fascination for the fragile ballet of slender creatures constantly attracted to sparkling glows. However, Charlotte Joulia’s movie is neither about the torments of loneliness nor the ghostly character of the dancing figures. The movie stages a rendez-vous: At night, in a park, a man and a woman, as fragile and vaporous as two butterflies, share a light and pirouetting pas de deux. Fatou Traoré and Claudio Bernardo, recognized dancers as well as well-known choreographers, within the Communauté Française (French Community) and beyond, offer their sensuality and their strong personality to this soft duet. Their brief dialogue enhances the innocent charm and the naïve poetry of the plot. What is stunning in Joulia's film, is the absence of feeling of duration. This is certainly not due to the briefness of the film but to meticulous lightning, fluid cutouts and weightless camerawork (obviously using a steady-cam). Both floating and fleeting, the dance is not pressured with time.
This is so important because it leads the movie to go beyond a delightful, yet kitsch aspect in which the setting (the Tenboche Park in Brussels, filmed in a Hollywood musicals way), the too generous and expressive playing of the actors and the post-production visual effects (fireflies dance, the glowing letters in the cast and credit titles) seem to maintain it.
Dick Tomasovic
