Julien Gosselin – Si Vous Pouviez Lécher Mon Cœur

Les Particules élémentaires – Atomised
based on Michel Houellebecq's novel

After dazzling the audiences of Athens Festival 2016 with his stage adaptation of Roberto Bolao’s 2666, thirty-year-old Julien Gosselin, one of the most dynamic contemporary French directors, adapts Michel Houellebecq’s award-winning, controversial, 1998 novel Les Particules élémentaires (known in English as Atomised). Gosselin taps into Houellebecq’s intrinsically theatrical, polyphonic, postmodern style to bring the author’s twisted take on the classic family novel to life. Ten actors on stage serve as both characters and narrators. Live music, lighting, and videos conjure a world that is otherwise devoid of decoration. The two main characters, the sexually repressed Michel and the sex addict Bruno, epitomize the decline of Western societies. Houellebecq’s themes of lack of love and affection within an indifferent world are even more relevant today. As the director puts it: “It is obvious to me that I am, we all are, today’s version of Michel and Bruno.” Gosselin toys with standard expectations of character, narration, and identification to radicalize our notions of identity.