Cérémonie d'ouverture des Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024

At four hours long, the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics was very long and drawn out. It could easily have been cut down to three hours. The ceremony was also controversial, criticised by religious groups and praised by the LGBTQ+ community.

The idea of the delegations being presented on boats was very creative and the synchronisation of the small events worked perfectly. It's a wonder that such a long ceremony, with so many people involved, had no sound or synchronisation problems.

However, the joke with the headless Marie Antoinette was in extremely bad taste for an event that claims to be pacifist and in favour of women. And the presentation of the Minions was strange since the characters have nothing to do with French culture. It looked like a disguised marketing for Despicable Me 4 (which, coincidentally, is in the cinema) and that's not what the Olympics are about.

It was a ceremony with ups and downs, long and controversial.

I love how artistic the French are! As one of the commentators, Kelly Clarkson said, "cinematic, almost as if we're watching a movie." There was an anonymous masked person carrying the Olympic torch and he was doing cool parkour moves on the roof tops, museums, Louis Vuitton shop, etc. I also loved the mechanical running silver horse with a silver armored person carrying the Olympic flag, that was set on a must've been set on top of a submarine.

The symphony of sounds, the variety of French music from opera to heavy metal, oh yeah Lady Gaga doing a French burlesque dance and song. The dancing, the runway, light shows, so much entertainment on the sidelines of the Sienna river. Paris did a fabulous job on the opening ceremony! I'm giving this a 7 because the commentator said "the arch" rather than l'Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France when the torch runners were running through it. The commentators didn't even mention how great the parkour guy was. I don't know if we ever found out who he was.

The opening ceremony is theatre, so why would you talk during it? The commentary completely ruins the immersive experience- it's just so disappointing. When a singer is introduced the commentator goes, "this will be exciting" (or words like it; adds nothing. Is there anyone who prefers it? Maybe, but better just to let the viewers enjoy the theatre and leave mostly unhelpful comments out of it

When the athletics come out, it's ok, but not else wise.

If one's at the movies or at a theatre if someone was commentating behind you, it'd drive you mad, so why it it necessary now? Just be quiet and the the theatre unfold by itself.

Yes, the French are creative, but this spectacle was not creative, it was taunting. The faux Last Supper for drag queens, the threesome that frolics in the Library tearing up books but not letting you into the bedroom they all three enter, the really lousy can can on the banks of the Seine, the heavy metal group that, thankfully, no one could hear. It was all a giant attempt to be over the top. When you have to try that hard, it fails. There were a few good spots: Celine Dion was excellent (and I don't really like her normally), the Eifel Tower light show, and even the Montgolfier hot air balloon rising as the torch lit it. So a few fragments of true beauty and wonder, and the rest was just Meh!

Very refreshing and I don't mean the summer rain :) It's the parade style like the Canal Parade in Amsterdam so it's real fun (River Parade). A real party in the French capital with a lot of dancing. The city of Paris is just fantastic from above and the scene at Le Cour de cassation is 'bloody' beautiful. The light show by the Eiffel tower is a joy to behold and for a second I wondered if it would become the Olympics torch :) But then the biggest surprise for me was the finale when you heard the intro of Edith Piaf's L' Hymne a l'amour and you see a figure on the second level of the Eiffel tower none other than Celine Dion, with such a comeback.