Le Sacre du Printemps

Summary

Le Sacre du Printemps

Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps was inspired by prehistoric rituals as well as by a dance performed for the Slavic god Yarilo. Here the story is transposed to the realm of Santeria – one of the few still practiced archaic religions. The material world is represented as an emotionally impoverished big city.

The spiritual world is symbolized as a tropical island where the Santeria rituals are still practiced.
God is a black woman. In her kitchen she prepares another one of her experiments – the creation of the three main characters: Dr. Bardot, a brain surgeon, who feels terrorized by the chaos and the dirt of the world; Esther, a woman lost in her mourning for her dead husband; and Lucia, a young girl abused by her father, seeking revenge through self-destruction.
The hands of god place Esther, Lucia and Dr. Bardot in the same city in order to observe their lives. They all share the same fate: in the moment when their maniac obsessions and fears reach their peak, they suddenly find themselves whisked away to a tropical island, where black albinos, dwarfs and transvestites prepare them for a ritual that will heal them of their fears. Meanwhile, god is watching the result of the experiment through her kitchen window...

Source: German films Service & Marketing GmbH