- Théâtral Magazine

 

On stage, Juliette Binoche evokes Barbara by reciting texts that seek to bring her words to life from her unfinished autobiography Il était un piano noir. Leterme accompanies Binoche to cast light on Barbara's music and its extreme richness through his performance on the piano, some in a minimalist spirit. A unique night to remember.

 

Under her simple stage name “Barbara,” Monique Andrée Serf (b. Paris June 9, 1930, d. Neuilly-sur-Seine November 24–25, 1997) was an immensely popular French singer and composer in the cabaret style. As the French Yahoo encyclopedia puts it, she appeared as “a fragile woman, of dark sensuality, frail voice, and careful diction.” There was definitely something Piaf-like about her. She was born in the seventeenth arrondissement of Paris, the second child of fur salesman Jacques Serf, of Alsatian Jewish origin (b. Paris November 25, 1904, d. Nantes December 20, 1959), and Esther Brodsky, born in Tiraspol, Moldavia. During the German occupation the family took refuge in several localities in France; in 1942 they had to flee from one of them, Tarbes, after they were denounced as Jews. In 1944, still under the occupation, the future “Barbara,” who would accompany herself on the piano, underwent the first of seven operations on her right hand.

 

 

Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 50 feature films, been recipient of numerous international awards, and has appeared on stage and in movies across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during adolescence. After performing in several stage productions, she began acting in films by auteur directors Jean-Luc Godard (Je vous salue, Marie (Hail Mary) , 1985), Jacques Doillon (La Vie de famille (Family Life), 1985) and André Téchiné, who made her a star in France with the leading role in his 1985 drama Rendez-vous. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), directed by Philip Kaufman, launched her international career.

 

 

 

 

Starring: Juliette Binoche
Piano: Vincent Leterme
Text & Music: Barbara