{"id":64691,"date":"2025-07-02T07:31:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T11:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/?p=64691"},"modified":"2025-07-02T07:31:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T11:31:54","slug":"immortality-in-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/magazine\/culture\/immortality-in-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Immortality in Art(s)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who among us hasn\u2019t dreamed, even for just a moment, of slowing down or even freezing the passage of time? From the mummies of Ancient Egypt to the portraits ordered by the ultra-wealthy of this world, as well as the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo and L\u2019Immortalit\u00e9 d\u00e9concert\u00e9e<\/em> by sculptor Georges R\u00e9recipon, the visual and plastic arts have often been the ideal channel to transpose our fear of disappearing without leaving a trace. And why not take advantage of it in the process to enhance our image, at least when we have the means? But there is always the risk of becoming obsessed with our own reflections; social media didn\u2019t invent egotism, after all.<\/p>\n

Just talk to the hedonistic hero of Oscar Wilde\u2019s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>, who is unable to tolerate the idea that the painting that represents him will age better than he will. Emblematic of the torments of a narcissistic soul, this work saw dozens of adaptations in the 20th and 21st centuries for television, cinema, theatre, and comic books, proving that dandies don\u2019t have a monopoly on aspiring to immortality or eternal youth. In this sense, literature is always highly revealing, capable of condensing time as well as stretching it out to infinity \u2013 or almost. This is demonstrated by many examples: Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em>, with, at its centre, or rather in its blood, the figure of the vampire who can brave eternity by feeding on the vitality of others; Virginia Woolf\u2019s Orlando<\/em>, a hero(ine) who defies genders and centuries to better escape the ticking of the clock; or All Men Are Mortal<\/em>, a novel by Simone de Beauvoir, which brilliantly reminds us that she was more than just an essayist.<\/p>\n

This is without even talking about science fiction, because reality has often caught up with it in our increasingly robotized, cloned, and dematerialized world. In an era where the life expectancy in Canada exceeds 80 years, where medicine, science, and technology have undergone, over the course of a century, breakthroughs as remarkable as they are exponential, where cosmetic surgery has become just one more wellness activity, and where the web indefinitely extends the virtual lives of our deceased, it\u2019s reasonable to believe that we still haven\u2019t seen anything yet. Like nature, humans, with our fear of emptiness, will do everything in our power to repel and rout death, even if it means paradoxically destroying our own environment. On the theatre stage, the Quebec-based company Posthumains examines the \u201cimpacts of the development of NBIC technologies (nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, information technologies, and cognitive sciences) on living beings,\u201d particularly by probing the transhumanist movement. Its Post Humains<\/em> and i\/O<\/em> shows, both the products of brilliant creator Dominique Leclerc, dive headfirst into this quest for an improved, enhanced body. Does it become dehumanized in the process? And to what extent does \u201cour refusal of finitude\u201d blind us?<\/p>\n

Between philosophy and the spectacular, the 7th art, of course, eagerly grapples with all these complex questions and, over the course of its roughly 130-year history, has not hesitated to make our fixation on longevity its bread and butter, starting with plots featuring mummies, vampires, and untouchable and resuscitated superheroes, as well as countless adaptations of Isaac Asimov\u2019s novels. Two films come to mind for me that each flirt in their own way with the fantastic while shaking up our relationship with time. First of all, we have David Fincher\u2019s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button<\/em>, based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in which a man (Brad Pitt) reverses the normal course of things by being born old and progressing toward youth. Do a soul and its physical envelope always walk hand in hand? Fully embracing its nature as a modern tale, this drama encapsulates our fascination with the inexorable march toward death. More recently, and in another register, The Substance<\/em> has divided and galvanized cinephiles with Demi Moore\u2019s return to a role where she embraces the darkest parts of what our mirror reflects. Conducted at a cracking pace by French director Coralie Fargeat, this horrifying fable sells us the possibility of generating a rejuvenated and beautified version of ourselves, not without disturbing our conscience. If you suffer from belenophobia \u2013 the fear of needles! \u2013 however, move along.<\/p>\n

What if this eternal theme was instead expressed through song? \u201cImmortality,\u201d<\/em> written by the Bee Gees and brought fully to life by C\u00e9line Dion, naturally comes to mind here.<\/p>\n

And I won\u2019t let my heart control my head
\n<\/em>But you are my only
\n<\/em>We don\u2019t say goodbye
\nWe don\u2019t say goodbye
\nAnd I know\u00a0<\/em>what I\u2019ve got to be
\nImmortality
\nI make my journey through\u00a0<\/em>eternity
\nI keep the memory of you and me inside\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This desire for the absolute is part of a love to be preserved, despite an unexpected destiny that pushes you to the highest peaks and leads you into history\u2026 and memories. The path of passion seems to be the one that most quickly unites talents and minds, from love always (\u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d by Dolly Parton and Whitney Houston) to the Olympic promise of \u00c9dith Piaf in \u201cL\u2019hymne \u00e0 l\u2019amour\u201d:<\/p>\n

Nous aurons pour nous l\u2019\u00e9ternit\u00e9
\nDans le bleu de toute l\u2019immensit\u00e9
\nDans le ciel, plus de probl\u00e8me
\nMon amour, crois-tu qu\u2019on s\u2019aime?
\nDieu r\u00e9unit ceux qui s\u2019aiment
\n<\/em>(We will have eternity for us
\nIn the blue of all immensity
\nIn the sky, no more problems
\nMy love, do you believe we love each other?
\nGod reunites those who love each other)<\/p>\n

Jacques Brel, meanwhile, contemplates old lovers, assuring that \u201cil [leur] fallut bien du talent pour \u00eatre vieux sans \u00eatre adultes\u201d (\u201cit takes a lot of talent to be old without being adults\u201d). And Ga\u00ebl Faye adds:<\/p>\n

Malgr\u00e9 la vie, le temps pass\u00e9
\nMalgr\u00e9 la jeunesse fatigu\u00e9e
\nPersonne ne pourra emp\u00eacher
\nNos corps us\u00e9s de chalouper
\n<\/em>(Despite life, time passed
\nDespite tired youth
\nNo one can stop
\nOur worn-out bodies from swaying<\/p>\n

But there are also, in reality, those key people who make you believe that life has no age. On January 12, at the age of 101, the lights went out for that famous storyteller who had lit up so many hearts, both young and old, in a dazzling career between stage and screen, where her Fanfreluche<\/em> and her grandmother from Passe-Partout<\/em> inspired joy and opened the imagination. It\u2019s not surprising that Kim Yaroshevskaya was chosen for the cover of the beautiful book V\u00e9n\u00e9rables<\/em>, in which photojournalist Jacques Nadeau sets out to meet some 80 elderly figures who have been through it all and share with us not the secret of their longevity, but their know-how-to-be and their intimate relationship with existence. Enough to reconcile us with our latent chronophobia \u2013 the fear of time passing\u2026<\/p>\n

Long life to you, Strom Magazine<\/em>!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

REDISCOVER WORKS RELATED TO LONGEVITY<\/h3>\n

Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>, by Oscar Wilde (1890)<\/p>\n

Dracula<\/em>, by Bram Stoker (1897)<\/p>\n

Orlando<\/em>, by Virginia Woolf (1928)<\/p>\n

All Men Are Mortal<\/em>, by Simone de Beauvoir (1946)<\/p>\n

V\u00e9n\u00e9rables<\/em>, by Jacques Nadeau (\u00c9ditions Cardinal, 2024)<\/p>\n

Theatre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Post Humains<\/em>, by Dominique Leclerc (L\u2019instant m\u00eame, 2019)<\/p>\n

i\/O<\/em>, by Dominique Leclerc (Atelier 10, 2023)<\/p>\n

Cinema<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button<\/em>, directed by David Fincher (2008)<\/p>\n

The Substance<\/em>, directed by Coralie Fargeat (2024)<\/p>\n

Songs<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cImmortality,<\/em>\u201d by C\u00e9line Dion<\/p>\n

\u201cI Will Always Love You,<\/em>\u201d by Dolly Parton<\/p>\n

\u201cL\u2019hymne \u00e0 l\u2019amour,<\/em>\u201d by \u00c9dith Piaf<\/p>\n

\u201cLa chanson des vieux amants,<\/em>\u201d by Jacques Brel<\/p>\n

\u201cChalouper,<\/em>\u201d by Ga\u00ebl Faye<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who among us hasn\u2019t dreamed, even for just a moment, of slowing down or even freezing the passage of time? From the mummies of Ancient Egypt to the portraits ordered by the ultra-wealthy of this world, as well as the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo and L\u2019Immortalit\u00e9 d\u00e9concert\u00e9e by sculptor Georges R\u00e9recipon, the visual and plastic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":64682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64691"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64694,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64691\/revisions\/64694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}