Menotti’s “The Telephone”, appropriately subtitled “L’amour a trois”, is a simple story. Ben unsuccessfully tries to declare his love for Lucy, but is constantly thwarted by the ringing telephone. It is to the telephone, surely the third person of the triangle, that he has to finally resort, in order to convey his message. In “La Voix humaine”, music by Poulenc, text by Cocteau, a woman bids goodbye to her long-time lover prey to wrong numbers, party lines and cuttings off. What should be a highly charged emotional scene is dehumanised, where the normal physical bond of the moment is replaced by the unpredictable link of the telephone wires. Performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
304998
Language
French
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)