Balzac - a life full of passion
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Balzac - a life full of passion |
| Original title | Balzac |
| Country of production | France , Italy , Germany |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1999 |
| length | 180 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 (part 1), 12 (part 2) |
| Rod | |
| Director | Josée Dayan |
| script | Didier Decoin |
| production |
Jean-Pierre Guérin , Edith Colnel , Doris Kirch |
| music | Bruno Coulais |
| camera | Willy Stassen |
| cut |
Pauline Casalis , Adeline Yoyotte , Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte |
| occupation | |
| |
Balzac - A Life Full of Passion is a two-part French - Italian - German television film from 1999. The biography about the French writer Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was directed by Josée Dayan with Gérard Depardieu in the title role.
action
Honoré de Balzac , one of the most important French writers of the 19th century, died in 1850 . His friend and colleague Victor Hugo , who also publishes very successfully novels and short stories, looks back on Balzac's dissolute life:
Balzac has always sought recognition from his fellow human beings, which is due to the dismissive behavior of his mother Charlotte-Laure. He tried his hand at being an author, publisher and businessman, but initially without success. Heavily indebted, only the kind-hearted Madame de Berny sticks to him, who supports him financially and who benefits from her social contacts Balzac. Although several years older than him, she becomes his lover too. But she suffers from being unable to give him any more children.
Balzac continued to write and with the help of tons of coffee he became one of the most productive authors of his time. However, it takes years before he can finally celebrate success with his novels for his complete work The Human Comedy . Fame and his penchant for luxury meanwhile make him lavish, which again drives him to the brink of bankruptcy. He loves life and especially women. For a while he raves about the Duchess d'Abrantès , but it is the beautiful Countess Eva Hanska in whom he recognizes his great love. She is married to the Russian nobleman Count Hanski, which does not prevent Balzac and Eva from engaging in a lively correspondence and starting an affair.
After Madame de Berny and Count Hanski died, Balzac travels to Russia to win Eva over and bring her to Paris . Balzac and Eva, whose child, a girl, dies shortly after birth, however, have to wait a long time before they are allowed to marry. They are only married shortly before his death, after which he makes her his sole heir. Balzac, threatening to go blind and plagued by exhaustion, has achieved everything as a writer, but he still lacks the approval of his mother. As he is dying, she holds his hand with tears in her eyes and tells him that she is proud of him.
background
The shooting for the television film, which was set up as a European prestige production, took place in Paris, Bordeaux , in Balzac's hometown Tours , at Saché Castle , where Balzac lived temporarily, and in the Czech Republic , where the scenes with the winter landscapes were created.
The main characters Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant had previously played the leading roles in The Resurrection of Colonel Chabert (1994) in a screen adaptation of Balzac's story Colonel Chabert . Director Josée Dayan, screenwriter Didier Decoin and Depardieu had already worked together successfully for the multi-part television series The Count of Monte Christo in 1998 . In 2000, the trio tried with Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate on a television adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel Die Elenden .
Balzac - A Life of Passion first aired on French television on September 13, 1999. In Germany, the film biography was shown for the first time on January 2 and 3, 2000 in two parts on television. The multi-part series was released on DVD in 2001 and 2009.
Reviews
For the lexicon of international films , the multi-part series was an “opulent sheet of images that not only includes the tough struggle for literary recognition, but also throws the spotlight on the dissolute life of the bon vivant”. The result was a “credible and entertaining film about the adventure of an artist's life”. It is thanks to the “consistently great actor performances” that the film evokes compassion from the audience. Prisma described Balzac - A life full of passion as a "brilliantly cast historical drama with opulent pictures and a rousing story". "Pictures, costumes and dialogues are a pleasure", praised TV Spielfilm . In addition, the film is "[p] magnificently staged and played confidently".
Nikolaus von Festenberg spoke in the Spiegel of a “European attack on the old days” in which “great actors and the power of dialogues” had been relied on. "Like Obelix, Depardieu pats himself for the Balzac part, mischievous, clumsy, but full of awe for the great poet," says Festenberg. Balzac is "counteracted by his cold mother, who confidently puts the Moreau down". She played her role as "as if old Europe was looking at its great poets full of skepticism but also with loving wisdom".
German version
The German dubbed version was created at Johannisthal Synchron in Berlin . Joachim Kunzendorf took care of the dialogue book and direction .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Honoré de Balzac | Gérard Depardieu | Manfred Lehmann |
| Charlotte-Laure | Jeanne Moreau | Eva Katharina Schultz |
| Eva Hanska | Fanny Ardant | Eva Kryll |
| Madame de Berny | Virna Lisi | Beate Gerlach |
| Laure d'Abrantès | Katja Riemann | Katja Riemann |
| Maitre Plissoud | Claude Rich | Hasso Zorn |
| Victor Hugo | Gert Voss | Joachim Kerzel |
| Eugene Sue | Sergio Rubini | Torsten Michaelis |
| Doctor Nacquart | François Marthouret | Roland Hemmo |
| Count Hanski | Gottfried John | Gottfried John |
| Anna Hanska | Katja Studt | Katja Studt |
| Baroness von Galvenberg | Sunnyi Melles | Sunnyi Melles |
| Gosselin | Michel Pilorgé | Reinhard Kuhnert |
Web links
- Balzac - A Life of Passion in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Balzac - A life full of passion at filmportal.de
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Balzac - A life full of passion Part 1 . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, December 2008 (PDF; test number: 86 906 V / DVD / UMD).
- ↑ Release certificate for Balzac - A life full of passion Part 2 . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, December 2008 (PDF; test number: 86 914 V / DVD / UMD).
- ↑ Balzac - A life full of passion. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 19, 2020 .
- ↑ cf. prisma.de
- ↑ Balzac - A life full of passion (1) . TV feature film , accessed on May 25, 2020.
- ^ Nikolaus von Festenberg: Battle of the ham . In: Der Spiegel , November 15, 1999.
- ↑ Balzac - A life full of passion. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 17, 2020 .