.
The Puy du Fou - France
It has been said that at
the moment of death, one's life unfolds before one's eyes. That I cannot know, but what I can know and
what I have seen at the Puy du Fou Cinéscénie in France is the unfolding of a life before my very eyes
in the most unbelievable way!
It was a pageant that
depicted the life of the people of France, the story itself and what I
remember was so overwhelming as to defy description. Mere mundane words, words such as
"spectacle" and "extravaganza" pale and fade away and one
feels the need to "coin a new phrase" so as to do justice to such an
event.
Philippe de
Villiers, creator of this, magnificent undertaking, did just that. Because it was neither a "son et
lumierè," a diorama, nor certainly not a theatre performance, he grandly
proclaimed it to be La Cinéscénie.
It comes from the Greek words "kine" meaning movement and
"scene" expressing space, therefore he called it "moving
space."
But what, may you ask, did I see? I saw a great living film, unfolding in three
dimensions before my eyes. It was a show
unique in all the world, and advertised as one of Europe's
greatest entertainments venues. This is
the 25th anniversary of the theme park and 35th anniversary of the La Cinéscénie show with 1.5 million visitors every year, well over 35
million to date, making it one of the most popular cultural tourism sites in
all of historic France.
Do come along
with me as I attempt to paint a word picture of this great Cinéscénie,
the beauty of the people and events of the land, the magical land of Puy du Fou.
It has been said that if we could see light years out
into space we could see the complete panorama of life, beginning with the
Garden of Eden, all laid out as in a photo-drama. Each successive generation would propel the
previous one further and further on out, and so on and on.
That hypothesis describes the concept of this play; we
see generations live out their lives, then pass before our eyes even as our
eyes were drawn back to the succeeding chapters as they, too, unfolded before
us. And what "chapters" they
were...
When the actual Puy du Fou site was discovered in 1977,
it all came together for Philippe de Villiers.
Seeing the ruins of the great castle with the huge lake below gave him
inspiration for the framework and setting for this human panorama.
As for the setting and story itself, prepare
yourself. The setting, Puy du Fou,
stands among the granite hills and farmlands of the upper Vendeén Bocage,
between the Mont
des Alouettes and Saint Laurent-sur Sèvre, the burial place of Père de Monfort,
who evangelized the area at the beginning of the 18th century. The place took its name from a rocky hillock
called Puy du Fou. The word Puy came
from the Latin podium topped by fouteaux, the common botany name for beeches.
On the borders of Poitou, An Jou and the marches of
Brittany, close to Nantes, Angers, Poitiers and New Rochelle, the strategic
position of Puy du Fou once led to the erection of a medieval keep which was
razed to the ground by the English during the Hundred Years' War. It was recently rediscovered by the
archaeological club of Puy du Fou.
The pink brick renaissance chatêau was built under King
Francois I at the invitation of Catherine du Puy du Fou, using plans drawn up
by Le Primatice, the Italian architect of the 16th century. However, in 1794 it was set on fire by
General Turreau's "infernal columns" which wrought havoc on the
Vendée.
This chatêau which serves as a backdrop to the Cinéscénie
is on the territory of the Commune of Les Epesses in the canton of Les
Herbiers.
Philippe de Villiers was 27 years old when he came up
with the idea of creating a great folk pageant which would combine oral
tradition with very modern technology.
It tells the story of the upper Vendéen Bocage and covers the 700 years
from the Middle Ages to the Liberation.
The story is shown beautifully through scenes of everyday
life. A life with its simple joys, its
work carried out through all four seasons, with its sorrows and tragedies, all
seen through the eyes of a simple farm family, the Maupilliers.
The narrator is the distaff merchant, a traveling
salesman who takes anecdotes and small knick knacks from town to village. To hear his commentary and to observe the
fantastic scenes of life as it was then is almost beyond description.
Try to visualize the stage, the setting for this
grandiose affair. I will relate it to
you as it was told to me, by our most gracious host, Etienne Morille. Our small party consisting of Melania and
Pierre Simon, who are residents of the area, and Doris Clark and myself, were
greeted warmly by Mr. Morille who proceeded to tell us wondrous things.
Now, about the "stage," imagine, if you can,
the magnificence of a stage which encompasses 15 hectares (that is 37.5 acres)
with a peripheral circuit of 1500 metres (4,500 feet) around the lake and a
width of 350 metres (1050 feet)!
Unbelievable! But what came on
stage was even more splendid.
Mr. Morille patiently explained to us that on any given
night of the 28 performances held only on weekends from May to September 2600
players will take to the lights and water for this epic.
If you think I was overly impressed, just listen to these
figures. Every performance has a cast of
4500 different characters, which of course calls for 4500 costumes. To insure that the show goes smoothly there
are 300 people providing services at each performance plus 20 frogmen, 65
first-aiders and 700 people for the stage management alone.
And now for the part that enhanced the overall picture,
the animals. Horses, not just any
horses, but many were royal, white, stunning Lipizzaner, prancing and
dancing. And there were dancing bears,
great falcons, vultures, owls, eagles, wild boar, greyhounds, flocks of sheep,
pairs of trudging oxen, cows, rams, goats, gaggles of geese, pigs, and even
Poitou asses.
But what, you may ask, did they do? Were the circus animals performing on
cue? Did people watch their antics and
politely applaud? No, they were part of
this awesome kaleidoscope of humanity, this trudging, marching, flailing,
dancing mass that lived and died, the people of France, through the ages.
We saw the villagers laboring in the fields with their
plodding oxen, then joyously singing at their parish festivals alongside the
dancing bears. We saw the jousting of
chivalry in all its bravado. When King
Francis I visited the Lord and Lady of Puy du Fou, we saw the happy
celebrations of the people of the land, the wine drinkers and food eaters, the
local color, and the characters.
We saw the horrors of the Vendeén wars with the many
casualties, wailing and bloodshed, the despair as shown through the weary
figures as they moved through time and space.
The beautiful "Pardon of Bon-Champs" thrilled
us when the "white" general, mortally wounded at the battle of Cholet in 1793, orders the
desperate Vendeéns to honor the 5000 "blue" prisoners as they had
been threatening to kill. Against all
their instincts, they did honor the prisoners and the general.
We cheered at the rebirth of the martyred land in the
19th century and we watched in dreadful silence as the refugees from the Ardennes made their silent trek home to the Vendeé after
the defeat of 1940.
The thrilling and emblematic figures of Saint Louis
Grignion de Monfort, the evangelizer, Georges Clemenceau and Marshal Jean De
Lattre de Tassigny, two heroes of the world wars of the 20th century, were
represented amid spectacular fireworks at the conclusion.
You must understand and visualize the entire production consisted
of the haunting narrative of the merchant.
Each chapter, each age passes before your eyes in all its joy and
pathos, then moves on slowly until the figures are too small to
distinguish. As one age exist another
age is springing to life before your very eyes.
It's a great arch of life, a dance of the human spirit
and beautiful beyond words. The
constantly moving carousel of life and death and all the human drama that comes
between, that is the history of France.
Having been roused from our trance like reverie at the
end of the pageant, we were thrilled to accept Mr. Morille's invitation to
enter the magical backstage, and what a place it was. It was truly the land of Puy du Fou!
It is hard to grasp the magnitude of this venture and
what is even more astounding is that the actors, ranging in age from 3 to 90,
are all volunteers. All of them live in
the area in 15 communes or villages.
They are the Puyfolais, three generations of them, and
this intermingling of ages and occupations has been the secret of their great
success. These Puyfolais are young
children, teenagers, mothers, white-collar workers, farmers, craftsmen and
shopkeepers in their regular lives during the week and perform only on
weekends.
Philippe de Villiers, the original volunteer, calls this
commitment of giving one's free time, energies, ideas and skills to bring
thrills and happiness to the public for 2 hours per performance "personal
sponsorship".
However, this volunteer work cannot be considered amateurism
as the dedicated Puyfolias have managed to combine the enthusiasm of amateurs
with the expectations of professionals, not an easy task.
Nothing is left to chance as the young people are taught
through the junior academy
of Puy du Fou about the traditional
skills, heritage and responsibilities expected of them by their region.
Pageant techniques, costumes, traditional dances,
theatre, regional history, woodcarving, juggling and illumination are among the
skills taught. Children in particular are
interested in their history, the fauna and flora and their cultural heritage.
Because horses and horsemanship are a major part of the
spectacle an equestrian academy was also established to train the 130 riders
and coachmen. After witnessing the
dazzling displays by the horses and riders it is clear nothing is left to
chance.
Imagine intermingling with all these people and animals
"backstage" which is really several villages on the perimeter of the
"Great Stage", a world unto its own and one I will never forget.
Much to our delight Mr. Morille then whisked us up to the
inner sanctuary itself, the projection room.
High above the 14000 seats in the panoramic stands, which are all
equipped with headphones to translate the program into numerous languages, we
found 2000 projectors with 450 kilometres of electric cables.
The lighting was fantastic, outdone only by the
bedazzlement of the fireworks exploding in the program finale. Ten thousand fireworks per season add great
excitement to the performances. Add to
the impressive program 1500 computer-controlled fountains that combine fire and
water in ways beyond the imagination.
Cinéscénie combines quadriphony, laser, electronics,
computerized pyrotechnics and huge water screens to create a magical atmosphere
defying expectations.
The powerful music, as everything else, is also performed
voluntarily. The famous composer Georges
Delerve created the soundtrack and popular music of Vendée was recorded with
harpist Lily Laskine.
An ensemble of 73 musicians from the French National
Orchestra and 92 chorus singers from the Paris Opera House perform music you
will never forget.
Imagine a mixture of perfect script, timeless music,
spectacular colors and the mystical presence of the actors who paradoxically
appear to be both near and yet so far away in time and space.
Oh yes, the actors, or should I say glorious, resonating,
mesmeric voices of actors who volunteer their well-known talents and trademark
voices to the project. The star packed
list includes Francios Chaumette, Marie Dubois, Michael; Duchaussoy, Susanne
Fion, Robert Hossein, Dominque Leverd, Denis Manuel, Jean Piat, Catherine
Salviat, Nicolas Silberg, Pierre Zimmer and Philippe Noiret.
Now, if I close my eyes, I see it once again. The strong figures moving behind the sturdy
oxen planting their seeds. When
adversity and wars strike they tire and bend toward the ground and the oxen
slow their pace, trudging along.
I hear the hypnotic voice filling my senses and I feel I
am a part of history, while being in the present between life and death. There is no distinction.
And this I will remember always as in my dreams...
.
[PDF
- 9.8 MB]
