VIFF review: Maguy Marin: Time to Act offers rare chance to see haunting French dance work
May B..’s shuffling, clay-caked crones speak directly to our pandemic times
Maguy Marin’s famous May B. was ahead of its time.
Streams September 24 to October 7 as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival, via VIFF.org.
IN MAGUY MARIN: Time to Act, the French choreographer's son David Mambouch weaves his own memories into an artful, intimate exploration of her most famous work.
That piece is 1981’s May B., and this film’s biggest draw is allowing Vancouverites the rare chance to see it.
Inspired by the themes and characters of Samuel Beckett and featuring dancers caked in cracking grey clay to look like crones, May B. still feels vitally cutting edge.
Though it was born out of France’s new wave of dance, it could stand with the best dance-theatre work of today. Its ancient souls do not so much “dance” as shuffle, slouch, and struggle across the floor toward nowhere, in a work that's by turns funny and sad—and more than a little resonant in these existential times.
Mambouch interviews a small army of artists to excavate the piece and its exacting but disarmingly down-to-earth creator. Fearless, deeply principled, and immune from trend, Maguy is drawn to the grotesque as much as she’s haunted by mortality and inspired by social struggle.
The back story, analysis, and anecdotes do get incredibly detailed, though, adding up to an exercise that may be most enjoyed by dancers and their fans.
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