Kaspar Konzert

François Verret highlights the violence of society in its will of standardization, and the exclusion imposed to the outcast.

Kaspar Hauser “first saw the light of day” in Nuremberg in May 1828. He was 17. Up to then sequestered in a dungeon, he could barely speak or walk and had the behaviour of a very young child. His case made big headlines at that time and, since, has never ceased to fascinate scientists and inspire poets. In 1998, François Verret also dedicated a work to him, of which this film is the adaptation.

Based on the observations published at that time by the president of the Court of Appeal of Bavaria, Verret showed less interest in the secret of the origins of Kaspar Hauser than in the conditions of his sequestration, that “crime against the human soul” and in his learning process and confrontation with human society. Faithful to a recurring concern in his work, the choreographer highlights the violence exerted by this society in its overriding desire for normalisation and, thus, the exclusion that the non-normal subject undergoes, turned into a guinea pig or a freak to be exhibited in fairs. Filmed using light cameras that place the spectator at the heart of the arrangement designed by Claudine Brahem and immerse it in the mental universe of a Kaspar superbly interpreted by Mathurin Bolze, Kaspar Konzert highlights the qualities specific to the writing of François Verret – a non-narrative and fragmented writing, at the crossroads of the performing arts and where music plays a decisive role.

Source : Myriam Bloedé