19 Misery and Canapés

Misère et petits fours

Kinshasa |

RDC

French

Behind the scenes

This text was born from contrasts I experienced in different parts of the world, with Kinshasa as a backdrop. Places where, in just a few moments, you can move from a highly social reception – where everything feels orderly and comfortable – to neighborhoods where daily life is far more difficult.

These contrasts led me to reflect on the role each of us plays, often without realizing it, enclosed within our own bubble. A bubble in which time passes like a film, and where we can remain frozen, like powerless spectators. But sometimes there are turning points, moments of awakening when we feel the need to stand up, cross the screen, and take back control of our own lives.

In the writing, I sought to create an almost hypnotic rhythm, as if images were unfolding without our ability to intervene. At first, the refrain remains passive:

“Like a cinema screen rising and falling…”

Then something shifts:
“Like a cinema screen that I lower and raise.”

The spectator becomes an actor, leading to the final awakening:
“Like a cinema screen I walk through,
Like the cinema of my life that one day comes to an end.”

And only then:
“I turn off the screen and step into real life.”

Echoes of the world

Kinshasa is the largest French-speaking city in the world. In a country where more than two hundred languages are spoken, French often serves as a bridge between people.

But this French is not fixed. Carried by a very young population, it blends freely with Lingala and other local languages. Words shift in rhythm, expressions become vivid, sometimes playful. The language lives, evolves, and at times takes on an almost musical quality.

In this text – which can also be read almost like a song – I sought to capture that sense of rhythm. The repetition of the refrain – “Like a cinema screen rising and falling” – creates a cadence. The images follow one another, much like a film sequence.