Hans van Manen

Overstimulated by flamboyant props and distracted by extravagant queens pacing up and down the rooms and corridors, one easily forgets the 18th-century country house serving as the backdrop in Tadzio. Yet this imposing bourgeois mansion was the starting point of it all, as well as the only constraint the directing duo of the short film had to consider. An eminent Dutch cultural critic, Els Hoek, challenged several artists to feature this particular place in an audiovisual artwork. She provided them with a generous budget and left them to do the rest. Three films emerged from her idea – Tadzio among them.

Lively scenes of Paris, all narrated by Maurice Chevalier, link together four dramatic ballet choreographies by Roland Petit: La Croqueuse de diamants (The Gold Digger), Cyrano de Bergerac, Deuil en 24 heures (A Merry Mourning), and Carmen.

A live recorded comedy about the divorced Fiona, her son Roel, her gay twin-brother Seth and his German lover Freek.