Supported by
By Roger Cohen
Reporting from Paris
In a French blaze of history and artistic audacity, the Paris Olympics billowed plumes of blue, white and red smoke as thousands of athletes braved a downpour to cross the city center, along the Seine toward the Eiffel Tower.
Constant rain and increasing protective considerations may not deter athletes from more than two hundred delegations. They laughed, danced and waved national flags, some from the decks of changed tourist boats, in a rite committed to the theme of unity to heal a divided divide. France and a fractured world.
Lady Gaga, emerging from her pink balls in a black bodice, conducted in French. Cabaret performers put preserves on the banks of the river. Aya Nakamura, a French-Malian singer whose presence was questioned by the nationalist right, has left the august French Academy. a bastion of the French language, to offer his lyrics seasoned with slang while he spins and caresses himself to the sound of the music of an emotionless republican. Fanfare of the Guard.
A new and varied France is facing an old and classic France. At a time of sharp political confrontation that has left the country in a bind, the rite was an invitation to reconsider the meaning of the country and the option of a settlement. The Republican Guard, however, relented and tried some modest dance moves in their military uniforms to the beat of Nakamura’s smash hit, “Djadja. “
We are recovering the content of the article.
Allow JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience as we determine access. If you’re in player mode, log out and log in to your Times account or subscribe to the full Times.
Thank you for your patience as we determine access.
Are you already subscribed? Access.
Do you want all the Times? Subscribe.
Advert