From Britney Spears to Lionel Messi, the cultural and sporting year

Britney Spears finally free

November 12. One happy end and a miracle. A few months ago, when the mobilization on the Internet and in the street was in full swing, no one would have dared to hope that Britney Spears, a tormented idol of the star-system now aged 39, really got rid of the guardianship of her father who had kept her for thirteen years in infantilizing limbo, without having the right to dispose of either her body, her destiny, or the fortune she has generated since the start of her spectacular career, there is over twenty-five years old. Finally, Judge Brenda Penny will have heard, through the activists of the #FreeBritney movement, and also from the mouth of the artist herself, all that this situation took on archaic and scandalous; she freed her from her father, to replace him with an accountant that Britney Spears had chosen, and from her obligation to work to run the juicy business that this tutelage fueled. The verdict also concludes an unexpected media sequence, supported by two documentaries produced by the New York Times and Netflix, which exposed the deep-rooted sexism at work in pop music on all levels of business, from media to recording studios. Long live free Britney. OL

James Bond: getting out can wait

October 6. Patience and length of time, etc. The historic and wealthy producers of the James Bond film franchise, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, had to postpone three times, because of Covid, the release of the last episode, To die can wait. With its budget of 300 million dollars (and 66 million burned for the canceled orbiting of April 2020), the MGM had in secret, according to Variety, tried to approach various streaming platforms to land a deal that could have convinced the Broccoli-Wilson duo to change their old school strategy of theatrical release. Cary Joji Fukunaga’s film finally sets attendance records with $ 730 million worldwide. The trend in Hollywood has been on the contrary either to dump the content on the platforms (Soul by Pixar on Disney +), or in parallel theatrical-streaming operation like the Warner films on HBO Max (Wonder Woman 1984, Dune…) The number of films broadcast in streaming between 2019 and 2020 has tripled in the United States and cinemas have seen their window of exclusivity reduced from 75 days yesterday to 17 today (30 if the film is a hit). D.P

Daft Punk put down their helmets

February 22. We have thought many times that their music can be heard more and more in the French variety: Angèle, P.R2B, Juliette Armanet, La Femme… Not to mention what is happening from LA to Seoul. During this time, the heroes Thomas Bangalter and Guy de Homem-Christo, without tearing each other apart, were losing the sacred flame. In a video soberly titled “Epilogue” and recycling the final scene of their feature film Electrome, Daft Punk announced the end of his adventure. A mind-boggling epic that led these two little Parigots, keen on indie rock from raves to Hollywood stars, and changed in a single gesture the face of pop, house and the way in which we can exist in the music. Slightly traumatized, we wished them good luck. But to be honest, ten months later, we haven’t quite recovered. OL

Pinault settles in Paris

May 22nd. Impenetrable (no one knowing what to do with it) for decades, the Bourse de Commerce, touched up with skill and erection of a circular concrete passageway by the architect Tadao Ando, ​​has housed, since May, the colossal collection of contemporary art. by François Pinault. All the artists who matter and are now too expensive for public institutions to afford are included. Without forgetting the others, which, by taste or flair, the billionaire propels all the way to the top of his chair rails. A good collection for offshore and big game fishing. Conveniently located between the Center Pompidou and the Louvre, the flagship of the Pinault Collection, which has installed two Venetian counters over the past ten years, attracts nearly 3,000 visitors a day. Fills its subscriber book (nearly 30,000) and significantly changes the map of the artistic offer in Paris. In the right direction ? Faced with this unsurpassable rival in terms of financial power, public institutions can only collaborate, that is to say, follow the impetus of another, rather than follow in the wake. Thus a co-exhibition by the American artist Charles Ray, strongly defended by Pinault, is already scheduled for next year, in Beaubourg and at the Bourse de Commerce… JL

Benzema sees life in blue again

May 18. A smoking blow from an artist: recalling in May a Karim Benzema that he had excluded from the France team for five years and the case of blackmail with the sextape targeting Mathieu Valbuena, the coach of the Blues, Didier Deschamps, became the one who forgives, and no longer the one who condemns without judgment the greatest French attacker of his generation. The judicial sentence, however, ended up falling on November 24: a year in prison suspended and a fine of 75,000 euros for complicity in the offense of attempted blackmail, the Madrilenian having appealed. In blue, Benzema will have had time to leave in a few months the imprint of a peaceful player, as discreet behind the scenes as he influences the field and we will not be prevented from thinking that by filing his teeth (shut up) you and play), the French staff deprived themselves of a sharp eye and an authority that could have stemmed the French fiasco of the last Euro, Deschamps’ men having been released (3-3, 4-5 on shots on goal) from the round of 16 by the Swiss Nati. G.S.

Now Messi is Paris

August 10. The great circus. Journalists who applaud the player in the middle of a press conference, others who declare their love on Twitter (“it’s our first time”) and a pharaonic presentation at the Parc des Princes which, far from constituting the opening remarks of the matter, was in truth the heart of it since nothing else was seen afterwards. Driven by the bankruptcy of a club, FC Barcelona, ​​where he alone weighed (between 70 and 105 million euros per year, according to estimates) a third of the payroll, Lionel Messi is committed with Paris -SG. On August 29 in Reims, during the first minutes of the Argentinian with the jersey of the vice-champion of France (number 30), Kylian Mbappé scored the two goals of the Parisian victory (2-0): welcome, man, but t ‘re at home… Lionel Messi will open his Parisian goal counter on September 28, against Manchester City in the European Cup, but will wait until the 14th day and the end of November to score his first goal in Ligue 1. And go, quietly, to seek his seventh Golden Ball a week later. He will push fires when the mood takes him, no doubt about it. It wasn’t for this fall. G.S

In Tokyo, the Olympics behind closed doors

July August. First postponed for a year because of Covid, then threatened with cancellation, the XXXII Summer Olympiad was finally maintained in a sluggish Tokyo. Exorbitant cost, preparations undermined by the state of health emergency, distrust of the population: the Japanese organizers will not have been spared. Pressed by the IOC, they had to decide on draconian measures: competitions behind closed doors, and a strict health bubble where athletes and media were prohibited from mixing. Games of the strange, marked by the surprise victory of the Italian sprinters over 4×100 m and the unexpected withdrawal of the gymnast Simone Biles, plagued by mental health problems. Aside from team sports, judo and fencing, the French delegation disappointed, gleaning only 33 medals including 10 gold. Not reassuring, three years from Paris 2024. R.Mé.