Jacques le fataliste, variations

This new programming by France Culture in the Cour du Musée Calvet is based on the idea that literature, poetry, and theatre are not only weapons but also a way to distance oneself, to “disorient” oneself from current events. “A great writer must dare venture out like Don Quixote,” says Enrique Vila-Matas, special guest for this programme. The audience is therefore invited to a wild ride alongside some emblematic works, in the language of Cervantès but also in that of Diderot. With humour and whimsy, guaranteed.

Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot

As a tribute to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, we have chosen to present their heirs, Jacques and his master, in praise of a work founded on "reason, pluralism of thought and tolerance", as Milan Kundera puts it. A reminder of a great French and European heritage, that of the Enlightenment.

Jacques le Fataliste recounts the amorous, picaresque and gossipy adventures of a character for whom the least of our actions is predetermined. "Everything good and bad that happens to us down here is written up there. Yet Denis Diderot writes at the start of his book: "How did they meet? By chance, like everyone else. By countering fatalism from the outset, Diderot places his story under the aegis of fantasy, paradox, complexity, play and, above all, freedom. This work of trompe-l'oeil, public address and mise en abyme (which, like Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, invents a form of modern novel) seems to have been conceived as a machine for manufacturing freedom. That of tales and soap operas, that of conversations, that of philosophers and that of libertines, that of an art without doctrine and that of changing identities (i.e., that of actors). Needless to say, Jacques le Fataliste is more precious than ever.

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) Diderot is one of the most endearing figures of his century; one of the most puzzling, too, and one of the richest. He was a singular thinker who thrived on collective endeavors. We owe him, of course, the Encyclopédie (along with others), the invention of art criticism, philosophical dialogues and libertine tales published unauthored and clandestinely. He was able to say of himself: "Chance put the pen in my hand." This time, chance had done things right.

With Anne Alvaro (the narrator), François Morel (the master), Pascal Rénéric (Jacques) and student actors from Ensemble 31 of the École régionale d'acteurs de Cannes et de Marseille (ERACM): Thomas Cuevas, Manon Tanguy et Carla Ventre
Original music Olivier Longre
Direction Baptiste Guiton
Free adaptation Pierre Senges
Assistant director Jules Benveniste