''Métamorphoses'' (''Transformations'') is a 2014 French

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written and directed by Christophe Honoré and starring Amira Akili, Sébastien Hirel, Damien Chapelle, Mélodie Richard and George Babluani. The film consists of a linked series of reworkings (in present-day settings) of episodes from the

narrative poem Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need to rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may ...

of the same name by the Roman poet

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

. It was screened in the Venice Days section at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.

Synopsis

Leaving her school, a young woman meets a handsome but strange young man. Attracted by the stories he tells her, she is fascinated by tales of gods and young mortals. The film recounts the encounter first of Jupiter and Europe, with the male god in the form of seducer, pygmalion, initiator. Bacchus then illustrates the necessity to believe in the myths of gods, or else to suffer for one's impiety. Lastly there is Orpheus and his proselytism, his teaching and his prophecy; a sect groups itself around him up to his violent death. The stories are linked by Europe, a young woman who grows through experiencing the worlds of these three characters, watching, following them from her state of innocence.

Cast

* Matthis Lebrun as Actéon * Samantha Avrillaud as Diane * Amira Akili as

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

* Sébastien Hirel as

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

* Mélodie Richard as Junon * Coralie Rouet as Io * Nadir Sönmez as Mercure * Vincent Massimino as Argus * Olivier Müller as Pan * Myriam Guizani as

Syrinx In classical Greek mythology, Syrinx () was an Arcadian nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Being pursued by Pan, she fled into the river Ladon, and at her own request was metamorphosed into a reed from which Pan then mad ...

* Gabrielle Chuiton as Baucis * Jean Courte as Philémon * Rachid O as Tirésias * Arthur Jacquin as Narcisse * Damien Chapelle as

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

* Julien Antonini as the hermaphrodite * Marlène Saldana as

Salmacis Salmacis () was an atypical Naiad nymph of Greek mythology. She rejected the ways of the virginal Greek goddess Artemis in favour of vanity and idleness. Mythology Ovid's version Salmacis' attempted rape of Hermaphroditus is narrated in the ...

* Yannick Guyomard as Penthée * Jimmy Lenoir as

Cadmus In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes, Greece, Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a ...

* George Babluani as Orphée * Vimala Pons as Atalante * Erwan Ha-Kyoon Larcher as Hippomène * Keti Bicolli as

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

Production

Filming took place between 13 May and June 2013. The film was shot in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

and surrounding areas.

Music

The sound track includes sections of Mozart's overture to ''

Zaide ''Zaide'' (originally, ''Das Serail'') is an unfinished German-language opera, K. 344, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780. Emperor Joseph II, in 1778, was in the process of setting up an opera company for the purpose of performing ...

'', Schoenberg's ''

Verklärte Nacht ''Verklärte Nacht'' (''Transfigured Night''), Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899. Composed in just three weeks, it is considered his earliest important work. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's p ...

'',

Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

's String Quartet op.5, Ravel's '' Rapsodie Espagnole'' and '' Daphnis et Chloé'', and several works by

Baxter Dury Baxter Dury (born 18 December 1971) is an English indie music, indie musician, originally signed to Rough Trade Records. Early life Baxter Dury is the son of Ian Dury and his wife Elizabeth "Betty" Rathmell. As a young boy he appeared on the ...

.Final credits to ''Métamorphoses'' (2014).

References

External links