1999 · L’École des femmes · Molière · Vigner (EN)

"Playing a scene is first and foremost speaking it."
LOUIS JOUVET

"Bernard Noël, in a meeting with his public, admitted that he was extremely pessimistic and added, ‘if there is anything that can save the world, it is diction …’. Lacan’s texts about L'École des femmes are among the finest I’ve ever read. He says that L'École des femmes is the manifesto of classical comedy at its best, and adds that romantic theatre - Victor Hugo - is the death of classical comedy. I have just directed Marion de Lorme, which is set in the 17th century, the time when classical theatre was born … with Corneille the father of classical tragedy. L'École des femmes made Molière the master of classical comedy. It was this difference in artistic and political position that gave rise to the legendary conflict regarding L'École des femmes. Racine owed everything to Molière, but he wrote perfect theatre - together they form an equilateral triangle. There is no such thing as perfection. Molière’s theatre combines intelligence, constructive genius and emotions. And that is what the story of Arnolphe is all about, and the reason why he resigns at the end of the play. Arnolphe is a 17th-century humanist, making the human being the centre of the universe. He even ends up giving Agnès, his very own creation, to the young Horace. Having made Agnès a woman, he also turns Horace into a man. He has carried his project to its end and withdraws. Molière does with Racine what Arnolphe does with Horace. And Horace is not given to sentiment. Perhaps he is better at telling stories, but he has no heart. He foreshadows Don Juan. Soon, Agnès will become Célimène. L'École des femmes is a matrix, a womb that contains the whole of Molière’s œuvre."
EV

"Each man has his own design
For wedding bliss, and I shall follow mine.
I'm rich, and so can take a wife who'll be
Dependent, in the least respect, on me -
A sweet, submissive girl who cannot claim
To have brought me riches or ancient name.
The gentle, meek expression which she wore
Endeared Agnès to me when she was four;" says Arnolphe [1]

"This is where everything starts. The initial moment is love. Arnolphe encounters love for the first time, on that day thirteen years ago, in the person of one little girl among a bevy of others; and this new feeling - unknown to him until then -, this overwhelming experience lays the foundation for an architecture he builds in his dream - a city, laws and rules, a school… Arnolphe’s vision is a personal one, a highly individual Utopia which is exemplary in nature. Arnolphe has brought Agnès up away from the world, in a closed world, on the philosophical principle ‘I think, therefore I am’ to prepare her for the freedom of being. He loves Agnès as God loves his creation. Agnès loves Arnolphe as a daughter loves her father. Horace, on the other hand, represents the outside world; when he enters that enclosed space he causes it to break open: desire is born, love changes its nature. Arnolphe no longer sees Agnès as a child in a Utopian vision but as a woman. This is the paradox in Arnolphe: just because his plan is a complete success, it is bound to fail completely - he cannot marry the woman he has created. In order to give his work perpetuity in the real world, he gives this woman in marriage to Horace. Agnès brings him back to the real world. As Agnès becomes a woman, Arnolphe, the Creator God, the master, turns into a man. We witness the birth of a man."
EV

ARNOLPHE
Come, come, my pretty child,
You who are so intractable and wild.
here is your gallant : perhaps he should receive
A little curtsey from you, as you leave.
(To Horace:)
Farewell : your sweet hopes seem to have turned to gall;
But love, my boy, can't always conquer all.
AGNES
Horace ! Will you let him take me away from you ?
HORACE
I'm dazed with grief, and don't know what to do.
ARNOLPHE
Come, chatterbox.
AGNES
                                 No. Here I shall remain. [2]