wednesday, march 11 , 2020. the washington post eZ re C9
worked.
Especially during “It Just
Doesn’t Happen,” a new song
with a bright, beaming synthesiz-
er melody that shot into t he room
like alien sunlight. “I find the
silence unbearable,” Bejar sang
in the second verse, his voice
sour and precise. “What does
that say about silence?” Probably
something awful. But maybe
something not that bad. It’s good
to look on the bright side, even
when you know that life’s a joke.
Sometimes it’s hilarious, and it
could always be worse.
[email protected]ering the music on “Have We
met” sounds as if it were made in
a bygone era that nobody is
nostalgic for: Imagine a crew of
early-2000s studio musicians
working in a florid mid-’80s
style, smearing layers of pretti-
ness and fakeness in your face
until you feel a little sick to your
stomach; now imagine six musi-
cians valiantly trying to re-create
that sound onstage without
transforming into meta-indie
zombies twice removed from
their source material. Ta h-dah! It
music review from c1
Destroyer translates the
studio sound to the stage
Kyle gustafson for the Washington PostFrom left, Nicolas Bragg, Dan Bejar and Josh wells of Destroyer
perform monday at the Black cat in washington.
BY JAMES MCAULEYPARIS — Woody Allen’s french
publisher has vowed to “do ev-
erything” possible to ensure the
publication of the acclaimed
filmmaker’s memoir after it was
suddenly dropped by its U.S.
publisher last week following a
protest by dozens of its employ-
ees.
The memoir, “A propos of
Nothing,” was set to be released
April 7 with Hachette Book
Group’s Grand Central imprint.
Allen is a deeply controversial
figure in the United States be-
cause of allegations that he mo-
lested his adopted daughter Dy-
lan farrow in 1992, w hen she was
7 — allegations that Allen has
repeatedly denied and for which
he has never been charged.
But Allen is far from a pariah
in france, where — until r ecently,
at least — artists have usually
been given carte blanche to live
their lives however they please
insofar as their work is judged to
have value. Allen’s most recent
film, “A rainy Day in New York,”
was not released in the United
States, but it was released in
france.
His memoir may be, too.
manuel Carcassonne, director
of Éditions Stock, a french affili-
ate of Hachette that had acquired
the french rights to Allen’s book,
vowed to pursue the project re-
gardless of his U.S. counterpart’s
decision. (When Hachette passed
on the Allen project, it returned
the rights to Allen, who may
choose to sell them elsewhere.)
“The American situation is not
ours,” Carcassonne said in an
interview with france’s Le Point
magazine m onday. “Woody Allen
is a great artist, filmmaker, writ-
er, and his New York Jewish
humor can still be read in every
line of this autobiography — in
self-mockery, modesty, and the
art of disguising the tragic in
comedy.”
“It’s sad that this decision was
made — sad for the freedom of
expression — but perfectly un-
derstandable in the American
context.”
The “A merican context” may
be different, but what might be
thought of as the “french con-
text” i s also changing, and fast.
In early January, france was
stunned by the publication of “Le
Consentement” — “Consent” — a
memoir by the Parisian publisher
Vanessa Springora about her al-
leged relationship with the fa-
mous french writer Gabriel
matzneff in the 1980s, when she
13 and he was in his 50s.
for years, matzneff described
his exploits with underage girls
and boys in his work, whose fans
included even former president
françois mitterrand.
But it’s 2020, and the #meToo
movement continues to reshape
notions about sexual abuse, ha-
rassment and consent. many in
france no longer seem to view
the writer as a sacred figure, and
the art may no longer transcend
the artist. In the wake of the
outcry that followed the publica-tion of Springora’s memoir, a
Paris court charged matzneff in
mid-february with promoting
the sexual abuse of children.
There is also the case of ro-
man Polanski, the french filmdirector who fled the United
States for Europe after being
charged with drugging and rap-
ing a 13-year-old girl in Los
Angeles in the 1970s. (Polanski
pleaded guilty only to unlawfulsex with a minor and fled before
his sentencing.)
The french establishment has
tended to defend him as a bril-
liant director whose art should
speak for itself. But those days
also may be over.
Polanski won the top award
last month at france’s César mo-
tion picture awards for “J’ac-
cuse,” his film about the Dreyfus
affair, the wrongful conviction of
a french military captain in the
late 19th century because he was
Jewish. When Polanski won the
award, a number of actors
walked out of the ceremony.
one of them, Adèle Haenel,
shouted “Bravo, pedophilia” as
she left — a moment that gener-
ated much social media buzz.
In the United States, the cam-
paign against A llen’s b ook gained
momentum after statements
from Dylan farrow and her
brother, ronan farrow, the
prominent journalist and Allen’s
estranged son.
ronan farrow is also a Ha-
chette author and said the pub-
lisher had concealed the Allenproject from him and other em-
ployees while they worked on his
own book, “Catch and Kill,” a
narrative account of his report-
ing on the Harvey Weinstein
story and other sexual abuse
allegations.
“A publisher that would con-
duct itself in this way is not one I
can work with in good con-
science,” ronan farrow said in a
statement.
But Carcassonne sees france
as a different environment.
“france was not the place of
family quarrels between Woody
Allen and his former partner mia
farrow, nor with ronan farrow,”
he told Le Point. “The french
public w ill decide, as it has decid-
ed by going to see Woody Allen’s
last film, which could not be
released in the United States.”
“To publish is to attach oneself
with respect to the notion that
everyone can express them-
selves, within the limits of the
law, that talent can be defended,
that the notion of author is
supported.”
[email protected]French publisher to move ahead with Allen memoir after U.S. firm backs out
associated Press
Hachette Book Group last week axed the release of woody Allen’s
autobiography, “Apropos of Nothing,” after protests by employees.washingtonpost.com/buyphotosPRINTS | CANVAS | CARDS | PRODUCTS | DOWNLOADSEnjoy the best view
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