Un non événement conté avec maîtrise et beaucoup de malice dans un album qui constitue une agréable parenthèse dans la vie débridée du reporter. ( )

My review, published in Tintin Books

My review:

This is it: Tintin's least formulaic adventure, and Herge's greatest stylistic experiment. That's not to say it's necessarily the best in the series, but "The Castafiore Emerald" completes a five-album cycle in which Herge perfected his craft. ([b:Explorers on the Moon|165556|Explorers on the Moon (The Adventures of Tintin)|Hergé|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172341878s/165556.jpg|159847] gave him his greatest artistic challenge; [b:The Calculus Affair|743454|The Calculus Affair (The Adventures of Tintin)|Hergé|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177938437s/743454.jpg|1992577] was the height of his skills as an artist; [b:The Red Sea Sharks|165526|The Red Sea Sharks (The Adventures of Tintin)|Hergé|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172341809s/165526.jpg|1462871] was a perfect story; and he capped all this off with the emotional study that is [b:Tintin in Tibet|87425|Tintin in Tibet (The Adventures of Tintin)|Hergé|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518VF5FKP0L._SL75_.jpg|885675])

The story is well-known by now: tiring, like Captain Haddock, of adventures, Herge decided to test his own skill by doing a story in which "nothing much happens". In this adventure, Bianca Castafiore is one of many unwanted visitors at Marlinspike, throwing Haddock's blissful life into disarray. Herge continually teases with the idea of an adventure - there are Roma people living on the land with suspicious motives; there are shady men pursuing Castafiore; the diva herself is in fear that her emeralds will be stolen, and the actions of her entourage indicate something malevolent. Instead, all but one of these proves to be a red herring. And even then, the one that does come true doesn't happen until three-quarters through the narrative!

The artist has great fun drawing a light farce, as most of this album is. Some pages are entirely filled with people talking in a room. He beautifully plays with depth and the art of the comedy of manners, and very much enjoys the slow burn of Haddock's halcyon days becoming but a distant memory. Some of the best moments include the gorgeous artwork of the gypsies by a late-night fire, Snowy's amusing asides to the reader ("I can't stand animals who talk!", that delightfully underplayed cover, and Calculus' invention (preceding the real world unveiling) of colour television. This sequence is clearly a labour of love for the artist, who spends many frames playing around with the tuning of Calculus' invention (while our characters sit, increasingly impatiently, often with their backs to us), and subsequently a frame of his own artwork into the fuzzy static of an old television set.

By its very nature, of course, nothing happens, and all rumblings of discontent reveal themselves to be either red herrings, or at the least unexpected trivialities. Certainly, for this reason, I can't imagine this work will be made into one of Spielberg's films any time soon! But that is, of course, its aim - and Herge succeeds in capturing our attention even without the aid of pirates, rockets, abominable snowmen or any of the other diversions which he had recently employed.

Of course, there is still plenty going on here to justify the album's existence. The plight of the Roma is deftly handled, with Haddock quicker these days to learn from his prejudices. Herge cleverly explores the prejudice on both sides of the issue - with characters on both 'our' side and that of the Roma who are bigoted, and those who aren't. Beyond this, the general sense of foreboding in the air makes the album's location come alive: Marlinspike genuinely feels well-populated, and it's truly a joy to see Tintin, Calculus, Haddock et al in their home environment.

And La Castafiore, a vibrant character in all her appearances, is put to great use here too. She may be the least dimensional person in the album (everyone begins life as a caricature in Herge's work, but despite the title, Castafiore doesn't really get to break her bonds until she joins everyone else in doing so in [b:Tintin and the Picaros|146160|Tintin and the Picaros (The Adventures of Tintin)|Hergé|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172178212s/146160.jpg|2257502]), but the diva is a force to be reckoned with, and never fails to steal the show.

In fact, when all is said and done I can't think of much to complain about. (Note the sly reference in the very first frame, which will ultimately explain the mystery.) As with "Tintin in Tibet", I'm certainly glad it was a one-time experiment: these albums must by design be langorously paced, and as such offer a little less on future readings. But this is an achievement which should be more appreciated amongst Tintin fans. ( )

The ebook edition that I read online was taken from a somewhat less than perfect print copy so that the artwork in it was much grainier than that in the other 2 issues of Tintin I have read. However, I found this entry in the series hilarious, not only the Captain with his temper and his magnificent way with cussing but also the detectives Thompson & Thomson (from "The Crab with the Golden Claw") with their malapropisms and woeful inability to actually detect anything, Bianca Castafiore who also has a tendency to malapropisms with regard to people's names and Professor Calculus who never properly hears what people say to him. I also liked the bit of social commentary regarding the Romany. ( )

3.6

Encore une adaptation audio d’une bande dessinée de Tintin, nouvelle étape d’un partenariat entre France Culture et la Comédie Française (« les Comédiens français » comme il est dit dans le générique, je ne connaissais pas cette expression qui sonne précieusement ridicule).
J’ai lu il y a longtemps plusieurs interprétations de cette BD, notamment que ce serait la contribution d’Hergé au théâtre de l’absurde, une sorte de [Cantatrice chauve] en planches plutôt que sur les planches. Qu’importe ! Cette adaptation est très bien faite, on n’a pas besoin d’avoir lu la BD pour y être, et c’est drôle, très drôle. M’ni Raton a ri tout du long, et moi et M’sieur Raton n’avons pas boudé notre plaisir. Comme quoi, les Comédiens français transforment tout ce qu’ils touchent en petits bijoux !