Don Juan

by Posted on

Don Juan is a story that has travelled the world.

Molière gave it such a modern depth that this character has become “our future”.

What does Don Juan believe in? In Don Juan. In his mind.


Who does he despise? The others. The weak. The fearful.

Don Juan – London – Cie La Flibuste


Who does he want? Women. Because women are his pleasure.

In the 21st century, he would surely have broadened the range of its pleasures.


Don Juan is a libertine man. That is to say, a man who only accepts the limits set by his own morals.

And that’s what makes him attractive.

It’s a bit of a morbid attraction – it’s true. We want to see him fall. We don’t want him to be able to seduce anyone anymore.
We want his speeches to stop working.

And he doesn’t fall.
It is not men who make him fall.


He is not necessarily beautiful.
But he has the will of his absolute freedom. And nothing/no one to stop him.
Neither pity nor empathy.

He therefore asks us the question of our own freedom.

And we don’t really want to hear that question.

At 21°, we sometimes see interpretations of Don Juan who would be a complete sexual obsessive.
But that is not what he wants above all.

First and foremost, he wants to seduce.
He wants to be loved. He wants to steal other people’s souls. The woman and his valet.

Since we are in the great century of reassuring labels, Don Juan can be described as a narcissistic pervert.
But that’s an insult to him. And insult to our own intelligence.

Besides, it would be a little easy.
A bad guy who’s easy to identify, with whom we don’t look anything like?
Nonsense!

Like all tragedies, Don Juan sends us a terrible mirror of our choices.

Don Juan Justin Adams in the title role in this adaptation of Molière’s work, directed by Hal Brooks, at the Pearl Theater.Credit:.Russ Rowland (The NY Times)

Don Juan does not die in our scenes, because he is a part of us.
And here we have the ancient Greeks again, who explained to us that theatre was fundamental, because it allowed us to experience the Catharsis.

Look at Don Juan. Let us be horrified. And maybe we’ll stop, at least for an hour, thinking only of ourselves and our own desires.

Don Juan in Soho

Of course, I can’t finish without Mozart’s Don Giovanni. For an end, it’s a terrifying end.

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25 Thoughts

          1. You should better be, dear ! Now, i’m reading your new article, which is awesome. I like your featured image on “The bells of Freedom”, and of course the way you have worked to write your thoughts on this. Wonderful. Excellent. Magnifique !

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                  1. You’re right. It is delicious, no matter the time of the year that someone chooses to visit Paris. And i want to visit Angelina again, to have some wonderful hot chocolate, and an omelette …lol…

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                    4. Yes, but it will never be the same and will never taste the same like Angelina’s. I’m more than sure you know the tricks !… lol… No matter how many times i tried – i even bought Angelina’s chocolate- i couldn’t make it. I have to go back and visit the place. There is no alternative !

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                    5. Oh yes – if not a touch of clove. But it will lack the air of Paris, the pretty porcelain and the Parisian women. Yes. But, I remember quite well that you ‘have’ to see Catalonia & Paris …. 🙂

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                    6. You’re so right, dear. I have to take a taste of everything. Life and pleasure are the most wonderful Goddesses, and they cannot live separate. I , also, remember i have an invitation… lol…

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