Paris: the Olympic gold medalist of naughtiness.
Revolution ran like a high-voltage wire through the wacky, wonderful and rule-breaking Olympic opening ceremony that the French capital used to astound, bemuse and, at times, poke a finger in the attention of worldwide audiences on Friday night.
That Paris placed on essentially the most flamboyant and diversity-celebrating of opening ceremonies wasn’t a surprise. Anything less would have seemed a betrayal of the pride the French capital takes in being a house to humanity in all its richness.
But still. Wow. Paris didn’t just push the envelope. It did away with it entirely because it hammered home a message that freedom must know no bounds.
A practically naked singer painted blue made thinly veiled references to his body parts. Blonde-bearded drag queen Piche crawled on all fours to the thumping beat of “Freed From Desire” by singer-songwriter Gala, who has long been a potent voice against homophobia. There were the beginnings of a menage à trois — the door was slammed on the camera before things got really steamy — and the tail end of an intimate embrace between two men who danced away, hugging and holding hands.
“In France, we now have the suitable to like one another, as we wish and with who we wish. In France, we now have the suitable to consider or to not consider. In France, we now have loads of rights. Voila,” said the audacious show’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly.
Jolly, who’s gay, says being bullied as a baby for supposedly being effeminate drove home early on how unjust discrimination is.
The amorous vibe and impudence were an excessive amount of for some.
“Know that it shouldn’t be France that’s speaking but a left-wing minority ready for any provocation,” posted far-right French politician Marion Maréchal, adding a hashtagged “notinmyname.”
Here’s a better take a look at how Paris each awed and shocked.
A Twenty first-century update of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’
DJ and producer Barbara Butch, an LGBTQ+ icon who calls herself a “love activist,” wore a silver headdress that looked like a halo as she got a celebration occurring a footbridge across the Seine, above parading athletes — including those from countries that criminalize LGBTQ+ people. Drag artists, dancers and others flanked Butch on each side.
The tableau delivered to mind Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” which depicts the moment when Jesus Christ declared that an apostle would betray him.
Jolly says that wasn’t his intention. He saw the moment as a celebration of diversity, and the table on which Butch spun her tunes as a tribute to feasting and French gastronomy.
“My wish is not to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” Jolly said. “Most of all, I desired to send a message of affection, a message of inclusion and under no circumstances to divide.”
Still, critics couldn’t unsee what they saw.
“One of the predominant performances of the Olympics was an LGBT mockery of a sacred Christian story – the Last Supper – the last supper of Christ. The apostles were portrayed by transvestites,” the spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, posted on Telegram.
“Apparently, in Paris they decided that for the reason that Olympic rings are multi-colored, they’ll turn all the pieces into one big gay parade,” she added.
The French Catholic Church’s conference of bishops deplored what it described as “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity” and said “our thoughts are with all of the Christians from all continents who were hurt by the outrage and provocation of certain scenes.”
LGBTQ+ athletes, though, appeared to have a whale of a time. British diver Tom Daley posted a photograph of himself recreating the standout Kate Winslet-Leonardo DiCaprio scene from “Titanic,” only with the roles reversed: He was on the boat’s prow with arms outstretched, as rower Helen Glover held him from behind.
Is that a revolver in your pocket?
When an enormous silver dome lifted to disclose singer Philippe Katerine reclining on a crown of fruit and flowers, practically naked and painted blue, audiences who didn’t think he was Papa Smurf can have guessed that he represented Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy.
But unless they speak French, they could not have caught the cheekiness of his lyrics.
“Where to cover a revolver whenever you’re completely naked?” he sang, pointing right down to his groin. “I do know where you’re considering. But that’s not a great idea.”
“No more wealthy and poor whenever you return to being naked. Yes,” Katerine continued.
Decades after Brigitte Bardot sang “Naked within the Sun,” this was Paris’ reminder that everybody starts life of their birthday suit, so where’s the shame?
Paris museums are stuffed with paintings that remember the human form. Gustave Courbet’s “Origin of the World” hangs within the Musée d’Orsay. The Sixteenth-century “Gabrielle d’Estrées and one in all her sisters,” showing one bare-breasted woman pinching the nipple of one other, hangs within the Louvre.
France in all of its colours
Clad in a golden costume, French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura strode confidently out of the hallowed doors of the Institut de France, a prestigious stronghold of French language, culture and commitment to freedom of thought. Even with no note being sung, the message of diversity, inclusion and Black pride was loud.
The most listened-to French-speaking artist on this planet was a goal of fierce attacks from extreme-right activists when her name emerged earlier this 12 months as a possible performer on the show. Paris prosecutors opened an investigation of alleged racism targeting the singer.
Nakamura performed with musicians of the French military’s Republican Guard, who danced round her.
Au revoir, closed minds and stuffy traditions.
Off with their head!
When London hosted the Summer Games in 2012, it paid homage to the British monarchy by giving Queen Elizabeth II a starring role within the opening ceremony. Actor Daniel Craig, in character as James Bond, was shown visiting the pinnacle of state at Buckingham Palace before the pair appeared to parachute out of a helicopter over the stadium.
The French like to joyfully tease their neighbors across the English Channel and, perhaps not incidentally, took a completely different, utterly irreverent tack.
A freshly guillotined Marie Antoinette, France’s last queen before the French Revolution of 1789, was shown clutching her severed head, singing: “The aristocrats, we’ll hang them.” Then, heavy metal band Gojira tore the Paris evening with screeching electric guitar.
Freedom: Does anyone do it higher than the French?
___
AP journalists Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Jim Heintz in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.
___
For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.
