Very much a curate's egg, but the good bits were really good. We (the ceremony and I) got off on the wrong foot because
- the Zidane bit. I love Zidane, he is gorgeous and a wonderful footballer, but the look of that section was a bit derivative.
- the whole beginning section was disjointed. I was sort of waiting for the show to start until the Lady Gaga performance, which was when I realised that it had!
The Dionysus tableau was mistakenly thought to be a parody of the Last Supper. It was apparently a reference to, or a representation of, Dionysus (and his drag pals). Fair enough, but we needed to be told what we were looking at and what the connection to Paris (of the Iliad, after whom Paris is named) is. Because not many people know that Paris is named after the mythological Paris, and even fewer know of a connection between Dionysus and Paris. I suspect that it was intentionally as close to the Last Supper as they dared, and the supposed Dionysus inspiration is for plausible deniability. Because there are many ways they could have portrayed Dionysus that didn't look like a well-known religiously inspired painting. Indeed they could have portrayed Paris himself.
Presenting men as women gave me the rage. especially as there seemed to be a lot more men in the show anyway, even without that. Fashion show - the clothes should be the stars. Always.
Anyhoo, I rewatched today.
For balance:
It was an original idea to use the Seine and its bridges as the focus. I understood it better, though some performances would have been better in a stadium.
I think I would have preferred to see the whole show in one go, rather than chopped up with the athletes' parade. Short-changed both. They probably intended to speed up the pace, but ironically it slowed it down.
I was looking for a narrative through line but on second viewing, I think perhaps I was being unfair - the stated themes were enough. Many of the different installations and sequences were meaningful (on second viewing) and beautiful in themselves, overall visually it was stunning. The sound was not fab for the music sections except for the classical music.
It was a Danny Boyle type ceremony but gallicised and queered up. The frenchifying added beauty and sophistication but the pointless queering detracted from it.
There was too much focus on creating an effect rather than conveying a meaning at times.
The rendition of the Marseillaise by the mezzo (what an exquisite voice!) and the women's statues section was moving and beautiful because it was all real. Real struggles, real achievements, real women Simply done. Substance. Best part, IMO.
Some of the humour was fun, some of it missed by a mile. But in essence it was a great show. So I can understand media types raving about it AND the general public disliking or being offended by parts of it.
And a big cheer for the performers and athletes doing their stuff in the rain. Really rotten luck with the weather but they were very stoic and mostly they sparkled regardless!
Edited to add: The Horse. The HORSE!!!