Alex Ross at Peabody and a French Movie

Here are two unusual events to mark on your calendars next week:

First, the Embassy of France, La Maison Française, will be showing an acclaimed new movie from France, Fauteuils d'orchestre (2006), next Monday, April 17, at 7 pm. It is the latest film from director Danièle Thompson, cowritten with her son Christopher, who also acts in the movie. The cast includes Cécile de France, Albert Dupontel, and Claude Brasseur. It involves the intersecting lives of an actress, a pianist, an art collector, and a waitress at the café near the Théatre des Champs-Elysées. When I was in Paris last month, a dear friend there told me that if I were to see one movie during my trip, this should be it. I was not able to see it then, and I am thrilled to get the chance to do so now. One never knows if foreign movies will even get distributed in the United States. Tickets are $10, and a reservation is required (by e-mail to culturel.washington-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr).

Second, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker and blogger at The Rest Is Noise, will be speaking as part of this spring's Peabody Musicology Colloquium. He will speak on the subject of “Hitler and Stalin as Music-Lovers” on Thursday, April 20, at 5 pm. This lecture will take place in the Cohen-Davison Theatre at Peabody, in Baltimore. This event is free, I think.