Eva Longoria and Tony Parker to divorce

It looks as though the end is in sight for the marriage of Desperate Housewives' star Eva Longoria and the French basketball player Tony Parker.

After several weeks of speculation, the celebrity news website, TMZ.com revealed that the couple are to split.

Yes the collapse of surely the most romantic story in recent Franco-American relations is now official.

Happier days - 07/07/07 (snapshot from YouTube video)

Longoria has filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences" as the grounds for the break-up.

As appears to be so often the case nowadays, TMZ also has "proof" in the shape of a copy of the papers which the 35-year-old filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court.

In fact, so all-intrusive is the reporting about the end of the relationship that visitors to TMZ's site can even "drag" a copy of those papers to post on Facebook and Twitter, should the urge suddenly come upon them.

Ah the wonders of the Net and Social Networks.

And Longoria, in her obvious "devastation" as People magazine quotes a "pal" of the actress Mario Lopez as saying after she had found text messages from another woman on Parker's 'phone, is clearly playing the celebrity game in full.

In a manner which seems clearly to be par for the course for someone living their private life in the public eye, Longoria has used both Facebook and Twitter to announce that, "It is with great sadness that after 7 years together, Tony and I have decided to divorce. We love each other deeply and pray for each other’s happiness."

Ah seven years - nothing to do with that "itch" of course when people apparently "tend to re-evaluate their relationship".

And it's surely pure coincidence that the same number figured so prominently in their choice of date to tie the knot in the first place.

Remember they were married in a fairy tale wedding at the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois church in Paris on July 7, 2007 (07/07/07) and followed that up with a star-studded reception at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte just outside of the French capital.

A slice of life in France - Rigoletto at Vaux-le Vicomte

Name a château in France and the chances are pretty high that somewhere near the top of the list will be Versailles, 20 kilometres southwest of the capital Paris.

Sorry folks from the outset, this piece isn't about that most royal of palaces, but its popularity owes a lot to another château, this one lying 55 kilometres east of Paris near the town of Melun in the département of Seine-et-Marne; Vaux-le-Vicomte.

Sports and television fans might remember the name from a wedding back in July 2007 (O7/07/07) held there as French basketball ace, Tony Parker, and Desperate Housewives' star, Eva Longoria, tied the knot in front of a star-studded guest list.

French history buffs will doubtless be more familiar with its significance as setting a model for what would become the Louis XIV "style", if you will, of building a palace.

At the weekend it was the turn of opera lovers to enjoy the splendour of Vaux-le-Vicomte for an outdoor performance of Verdi's Rigoletto.

Yes admittedly it's rather late in the year to be attending an opera "à la belle étoile" so-to speak, the season in Europe naturally tends to be confined to July and August.

On Saturday though the Gods were smiling, sort of, for the third and final performance at Vaux-le-Vicomte of Verdi's operatic "masterpiece of treachery and vengeance."

The principle of Opéra en plein air is undoubtedly a noble one, to bring opera to a wider audience at an affordable price and to stage performances at settings which in themselves, reflect the culture and heritage of France.

While the singers and the orchestra put in sterling performance, the one thing organisers could inevitably have no control over was the weather.

And therein lies the problem of performing outside at night so late in the year.

Perhaps many in the audience were hoping that Gilda would die the inevitable death a little sooner that planned because, simply put, it was so ruddy cold.

"If it rains, then please remain seated until the performance resumes," announced Tristan Duval the producer and organiser of Opéra en plein air, in his introduction.

There were some doubtful groans from many in the audience already shivering in their sweaters and coats.

"There'll be no intermission and spectators are requested to stay in their seats until the end so as not to disturb the performers," the audience was further informed.

Yes the setting was spectacular, but did it really lend anything to the production? The jury is maybe out on that and besides it's always going to be rather subjective.

The voices were good, although perhaps when Gilda went for those high notes, there might have been some listening who thought she might not quite make them. She did.

And what was it with a portion of the audience which couldn't resist humming along as the Duke of Mantua broke into the opera's most famous aria "La donna è mobile"?

Seriously though it was hard for even the most ardent fan to concentrate when the real focus was not on what was happening on stage but whether blood could be brought back to all limbs after two-and-a-half hours sitting in the cold.

Now in its ninth year, previous seasons have taken productions of among others, Offenbach's "The tales of Hoffmann" (2008), Rossini's "Barber of Seville" (2007) and Mozart's The magic flute (2006), around the county, to perform in front of more than 40,000 people in some of the most spectacular settings.

This year has been the turn of Rigoletto, with performances at, for example, the Château du Champ-de-Bataille in Normandy, Château d'Haroué in Lorraine and the Cité de Carcassonne in south-central France.

Vaux-le Vicomte was the penultimate venue for this year with performances on three consecutive nights, and the opera will now move on to Château de Chambord in the département of Loir-et-Cher for the final staging on September 19.

A piece of advice to those who'll be attending the sold-out performance would have to be to "wrap up warm" just in case.

Château Vaux-le-Vicomte welcomes the opera

No comment on the parking

Rigoletto - get your programme

Applause

Take a bow