Operas are full of grand tales of drama and intrigue; but when it comes toJulie d’Aubigny (better known as La Maupin), her life was even more astounding than the ones she sang on stage.Opera Q’s film La Maupin, created in residency with Tapestry Opera, looks at the myth and mystery behind one of French Opera’s most interesting figures. Composed by Colin McMahon with the libretto written by and performed by Camille Rogers, La Maupin brings a lesser known queer icon to the fore using the art form she loved so much.

I hadn’t heard of La Maupin before watching this movie; but I love learning more about queer history throughout time. And Julie d’Aubigny’s story has everything you could possibly want: romance, duels, disguises, and even a little bit of arson. The life of La Maupin, like many performers, wasn’t particularly stable, yet she was able to use her immense talent to get herself all the way to Paris and performing at the famed Paris Opera. La Maupin details not only her professional life, but her private one as well, as d’Aubigny had several notable affairs with both men and women throughout her life. Predominantly dressing in breeches and certainly having the swagger of a confident young man, La Maupin lived her life on her own terms until the end.

La Maupin takes place in a stately home which appears to be unoccupied. The narrator makes use of it to uncover as much as they can about Melle Maupin, with mannequins of period costumes, wigs, and cork-boards of information helping unravel key pieces of her life. There’s almost a sense of it being like a riddle she has to solve: what’s true? What’s fiction? Just who was this La Maupin? In the section where the narrator discusses d’Aubigny’s first love affair, an overhead projector is used to display graphics and even little animations of a duel – I loved this now retro artifact being used in such an ingenious way for the movie, it gave that section a sense of fun and levity.

Camille Rogers plays a plethora of characters in La Maupin, from the titular songstress to her various lovers, and even some of her critics. With her powerful mezzo voice and impressive range, Rogers delivers a stunning performance. Included in Rogers’ libretto is some of Aphra Behn’s poetry, a fitting inclusion for this piece, and one which adds an extra sense of gravitas to the work while also saluting another queer artist of the time.

“I have to believe in her, so I can believe in myself.” The final line in the film feels like it hangs in the air; so many of us look to the past to find people we can look up to, to help us know we’re not alone. La Maupin does just that; by telling the story of a famous queer opera singer who lived her life out loud in a time where it was dangerous to do so serves as a beacon of light and hope in today’s darkness.

You can watch La Maupin online until April 14. For more information, visit: https://www.operaqto.com/la-maupin

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