Culture Agenda: The best things to do, hear, see or watch in Europe this week

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Culture Agenda: The best things to do, hear, see or watch in Europe this week  London's Tate Modern explores the concept of home, Catalunya hosts its biggest cheese market, and Marvel's 'Thunderbolts*' rumbles on to the big screen. Here's what to look out for this week.   READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/28/culture-agenda-the-best-things-to-do-hear-see-or-watch-in-europe-this-week  Spark your senses, wake your wonder. Euronews Culture seeks to show creativity in action and inspire our audience to explore the world through the five senses. Start your journey through the best of Europe's arts, gastronomy, traditions and high-end craftsmanship.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to another look at what's on our cultural radar.

00:06Joining me is my colleague David Morricone.

00:09David, good to see you as always.

00:10Oh, lovely to see you too, Togues.

00:12You're looking delightful.

00:14Darling, some may say.

00:15I'm certainly feeling very good.

00:17Despite what's been going on this week,

00:19it's been a week dominated with headlines regarding the death of the Pope.

00:24France's so much interest in his life and what he did.

00:27And that interest has also been reflected on streaming sites.

00:30Tell us more.

00:31Yes, so this is the film Conclave by Edward Berger,

00:34which was released last year.

00:35And it recently hit streaming services, Amazon Prime.

00:39And essentially, on the day of Pope Francis's death,

00:43it went from 1.8 million minutes viewed.

00:47And at the end of the same day, it went to nearly 7 million.

00:52So it has re-entered the cultural conversation

00:54because it's felt incredibly, some might say, prescient,

00:58considering the upcoming conclave that we have to look forward to next month.

01:04Okay.

01:05And so how close is it then, for people who've not seen it?

01:08No spoilers.

01:10How can we separate fact from fiction?

01:12Does it do a good job?

01:13It does, yes, because it's based on the novel of the same name by Robert Harris,

01:18who is very well known for his historical fiction.

01:21I'm thinking books like Fatherland or Archangel or even Munich.

01:26And he's written two screenplays, both for Roman Polanski,

01:32the very underrated The Ghostwriter,

01:34and the very overrated An Officer and a Spy.

01:37And essentially, the film won the Best Screenplay Oscar earlier this year.

01:45And what this film does rather wonderfully is base it all on fact.

01:50Now, obviously, it takes some liberties with regards to the plot.

01:53You have to keep your viewers entertained.

01:55So like with all Hollywood productions,

01:57there's a little bit of stretching of the truth.

02:00But there were trips to the Vatican.

02:02There's the wealth of research done by Harris.

02:04There was also an on-set consultant so that they get the rites and rituals down to a tee.

02:09So all in all, it is a very, very impressive tale.

02:12And this is one of the reasons why it resonates so much at the moment,

02:16because for anyone wanting to look at what happens behind closed doors,

02:21this is as close as it gets.

02:23Indeed, it's meant to be an incredible drama.

02:25And talking about incredible dramas,

02:27I know you've also been looking at the small screen again.

02:31And we're talking about series here.

02:32No spoilers.

02:34The Last of Us, please give us a breakdown.

02:38I can't give you a breakdown without any spoilers.

02:40So for anyone listening, for anyone watching this,

02:44they turn off because this is not one that's possible.

02:47They can't back on.

02:48Well, quite.

02:49So this is The Last of Us.

02:50And because it's based on the 2020 video game,

02:55The Last of Us Part 2,

02:56what happened in Episode 2 is all anyone can talk about.

03:00But we all knew it was coming.

03:03However, I personally didn't expect it to be coming so soon.

03:06This preordained death from the character played by Pedro Pascal, Joel.

03:12And we knew that this was a story about revenge,

03:15about old sins coming back to haunt characters.

03:18But what they've done remarkably well with this episode

03:21is you have essentially Mushroom Geddon happening

03:24at the same time as this very intimate character-driven moment,

03:29which is almost frame for frame like the video game.

03:32They've taken a few liberties with regards to who's with who

03:36and who's in the room at which time and, you know, all that.

03:40But it's an incredibly faithful adaptation and deeply impactful.

03:44And what the show does rather remarkably

03:47is it makes you sympathize with the antagonist

03:50in the same way that Joel is our hero.

03:54But in the first episode of Season 2,

03:56you understood that the hero is not always who he's cracked up to be.

03:59He can screw up, basically.

04:02And here we have sympathy for a character called Abby,

04:06who is rather remarkably played by Caitlin Dever.

04:10And she is, I mean, it's an Emmy-worthy performance

04:15because what she does in that limited amount of screen time

04:18is rather remarkable.

04:20So honestly, it's surprising, it's violent, it's visceral,

04:24but it's incredibly well-judged

04:27and really, I think, toes the line really well

04:30between being faithful to the original source material

04:32and taking a few liberties in order to make it fresh.

04:36And fresh it did, because essentially,

04:39it's this year's, you know, red wedding,

04:42essentially, from Game of Thrones.

04:43David, I do wonder how you fit anything else in your life,

04:46really, honestly.

04:47I don't!

04:49Yeah, there must be more.

04:50But tell me about this fabulous film

04:52that I know you've been talking to me about

04:54the last six months about, The Ugly Subsystem.

04:56Yeah, I've been chewing your ear off on this one.

04:59This was a film which I saw at the Berlin Film Festival

05:02earlier this year.

05:03It's a debut film by a Norwegian director

05:06called Emily Blickfield.

05:08And it's fantastic.

05:09It was a genuine standout at this year's festival

05:12and it's coming to streaming now.

05:14And it will be released in certain European territories

05:17in the coming weeks.

05:19This is essentially a reimagining of the Cinderella story.

05:24What Blickfield does remarkably

05:27is deconstruct the myth of beauty

05:30and the tyranny of beauty standards.

05:34And in this case, it really would work

05:36as a kind of a double bill

05:38or parallel viewing with Coralie Fargey as the substance

05:41in the sense that it really reminds you

05:44to what extent women will go to

05:47in order to please a man in a patriarchal society.

05:51What it reminded me of with these American shows

05:53like Bachelorette or The Swan,

05:56that god-awful show where, you know,

05:58these women lined up in order to go under the scalpel

06:02and it was icky to say the least.

06:04And here what you get from this film

06:07is some squirm-inducing moments of body horror

06:10with regards to plastic surgery.

06:12You get, and also a tapeworm.

06:14I mean, this ugly stepsister will go to any lengths

06:18in order to achieve her goals.

06:19This, to me, is an absolutely essential watch

06:22because it recontextualizes a story

06:25that we think we know

06:26and it forces the viewer

06:28to kind of ask themselves questions,

06:31not only about beauty standards,

06:33about the world we live in now,

06:35but also who we choose to dehumanize,

06:39who we choose to demonize in these stories and why.

06:44And really, to me, is one of the best films of the year.

06:48It's very, very high up there

06:49and I can't wait to see what Emily Blickfield does next.

06:53High praise indeed, David.

06:54That's an enormous recommendation

06:56for Emily Blickfield's film there.

06:58Do go and see it if you have a chance.

07:00But let's also talk about the role of women now,

07:02but this time from an archaeological perspective

07:05and a new exhibition that's just opened in Naples.

07:07Let's hear from the curator.

07:09A Pompeii c'era tutto.

07:20Infatti, questo è il risultato di questa mostra.

07:23Uno esce da questa mostra

07:24avendo visto tutte le tipologie di donne,

07:27sia nell'ambito familiare,

07:29cioè mogli, madre, figli, concubine,

07:32sia nell'ambito sociale,

07:34ingenue, libere, schiave,

07:37ingenue, liberte, schiave,

07:38sia nell'ambito professionale,

07:40perché accanto alle imprenditrici

07:42come Romacchia, come Giulia Felice,

07:45come Asellina,

07:46che anche Asellina è un'imprenditrice di se stessa,

07:49abbiamo panificatrici,

07:51tessitrici, filatrici,

07:53e abbiamo le meratrici,

07:54che sono moltissime a Pompeii,

07:57come in tutte le città romane.

07:59David, the area of Naples, Napoli

08:02is the gift that which keeps on giving

08:04from an archaeological point of view,

08:06as well as many more.

08:07Tell us a bit more briefly

08:08about this exhibition on there.

08:10Well, I mean, what's fascinating

08:11is that it really does explore Pompeii

08:14and this ancient civilisation,

08:17and specifically through the roles of women,

08:20whether it's the priestess,

08:21the mother,

08:22the wife,

08:23the concubine,

08:23the slave,

08:24the sex worker.

08:26And I think to, you know,

08:28approach that ancient civilisation

08:30through their roles

08:31and through the roles

08:33of these two statues

08:34that they've very recently discovered

08:35is fascinating.

08:37And it takes place

08:38at Pompeii's Archaeological Park

08:40and really an exhibition worth going to.

08:43Thank you very much for that, David.

08:45Do check out more

08:46on what's going on

08:46in the cultural agenda.

08:48Stay with us

08:49on Ewanese Culture.

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