It's no secret that great directors and screenwriters have drawn inspiration from mythology for decades.
Beautiful and fabulous stories about the riches and goods of the gods in Greek mythology are not infrequently present and are the basis for the creation of great memorable films, operas and plays that we now call classics. In this line of thought, the word 'classic' conjures up for some the phrase 'classic in genre', for others 'classic' evokes associations of class, style and an art that is closely linked both to myth and legend and to the theatre, the forerunner of cinema.
The art of opera, as a combination of artistry, music, song, dance and the specificity of singing, is as if it were the solder that easily creates unity between the performing arts.
Everyone has heard of the movie "The Phantom of the Opera", perhaps fewer have seen and heard of "Lunatics", the examples are endless, but they are all directly related to the Opera and directly presented to the general public as storylines.
Only a true connoisseur (or a casual perusal of the archives) could detect the subtle flavor of the mythical and delve deeper into uncovering the secrets behind the veil.
Inspired by the legend of the unfortunate fate of two twin brothers, Jean-Philippe Rameau, a French composer and music theorist of the Baroque era, composed the opera Castor et Pollux.
Dioscuri or sons of the mighty Zeus according to mythology, Castor was mortal and Pollux immortal. The two fell in love with the beautiful princess Telera, and Rameau portrayed the ensuing grief and suffering in a baroque opera that was modern for its time and led to much criticism from Jean-Baptiste Lully's conservative supporters.
Where's the cinema in the whole story you may ask - one of those films that fans would call an undisputed classic is closely tied to the myth of Castor and Pollux.
Have you figured it out yet?
Yes, we're talking about "Face Off" or "Borrowed Face" from director John Waugh, with screenwriters Mike Werb and Michael Collery.
The leads are the incomparable Nicholas Cage and John Travolta, and the names of the characters (whom they both play) are Sean Archer and Castor Troy (whose younger brother is named Pollux Troy). Now, we've all heard of Troy, the ancient city on the peninsula of Troas, and of the glorious, nearly invulnerable, according to legend, Achilles. And what brought Achilles down? Archer, and what's the name of our beloved policeman - Sean Archer.
After all, legends and the magic with which they have been passed down through the ages, though changing over time, are always an inspiration to artists associated with the visual arts. And while "Borrowed Face" is one of those films that any fan of old action movies would raise both hands in agreement that it's worth watching over and over again, the story of the brothers, sons of the mighty Zeus, has inspired centuries before Nicolas Cage and John Travolta embodied their mortal enemy characters.
Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera Castor et Pollux was composed in 1737 - 260 years before the premiere of Face off.
Unfortunately, the first performance was not a great success, because audiences compared the third opera with its predecessors Hippolyte and Aritzia and The Gallant Indies, which were already famous among the broader supporters of opera.
Only 18 years later in 1754. During the Querelle des Bouffons (a Parisian dispute that pitted the defenders of French music behind Jean-Philippe Rameau (coin du Roi ) against the proponents of opening up to other musical horizons, gathered around the philosopher and musicologist Jean-Jacques Rousseau (on the Queen's side), supporters of the Italianization of French opera), Castor and Pollux returned to the wings of fame. This was the moment when the opera Castor et Pollux was received with great enthusiasm and perceived as a more effective counterpunch to the Buffonists than any other pro-French pamphlet. And when it was revived again in 1764, the opera Castor et Pollux was already regarded as one of Rameau's greatest achievements.
There is an unwritten law that says that everything great has already been invented, that someone has already thought to create what you are only now seeing, that great thoughts and ideas exist in more than one place and in more than one consciousness.
Though through the ages and in their different colours, forms and transformations, myths have always inspired and will continue to inspire art, which brings us in a fabulous way stories of wars, boundless love, maternal sacrifices and all those pain-filled and pitiful epic and unforgettable tales passed down to this day.
The director's version is in fact what has left a lasting mark on the artist, who strives to convey his sense of the characters of the past in an understandable and exciting way.
