A program commemorating Pablo Picasso as an artistic collaborator with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The first part of the program, The story of a marriage uses Picasso's portrait of his ballerina wife Olga Koklova as a departure point for discussions of his designs for the ballets Parade, Le tricorne, Pulcinella, Mercure, and Le train bleu. The second part consists of reconstructions of two ballets, recorded in performance by the Paris Opéra Ballet at the Palais Garnier. Between 1917 and 1962, Picasso was involved in creating the designs for nine ballets. Le Train Bleu (The Blue Train) dates from 1924 and Le Tricorne (The Three-Cornered Hat) from 1919. These two historic ballets, created originally by Sergei Diaghilev, have been revived by the Paris Opera Ballet. Le Train Bleu is an operetta dansé of a chic and flippant society. Jean Cocteau, who wrote the scenario, mockingly celebrates the cult of open air life, fine bodies and sport. The dances are inspired by golf, tennis, swimming and acrobatics. Le Tricorne is Spanish from start to finish. Picasso, a native of Andalusia, created sets, costumes, and a stage curtain, which evokes the atmosphere of the ballet by means of a typically Spanish scene. The story, told with humour and warmth, is of a miller's wife, her jealous husband and a senile magistrate by whom she is pursued.
System Details DVD, NTSC; Dolby stereo; aspect ratio 4:3 Letterbox. 

1 videodisc (ca. 81 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 insert ([2] p.) in container