After Germinal, Emma Bovary or Elementary Particles, France Télévisions continues to offer viewers the opportunity to rediscover the French literary heritage through ambitious artistic projects with impressive castings. And the latest, La Peste, a mini-series adapted from Albert Camus’s worldwide bestseller, promises to surprise with its dystopian bias, far removed from the original work.
The 4-episode 52-minute adaptation for France 2, written by Georges-Marc Benamou and Gilles Tauran, will start shooting this Monday, April 17, between Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Nice.
With actors including Hugo Becker (The Promise) and Sofia Esaide (Les Combattantes, Overdose) present at the CANNESERIES festival this week to reveal the main lines of this event series, which is expected to air in 2024.
A modern adaptation of La Peste, leading to Covid and the rise of radicalism
Directed by Antoine Garceaux (Ten Percent, Salade Greque), La Peste France 2 takes us to 2029, in a society where today’s fears and anxieties sound strange. This company is just coming out of the wave of the Covid epidemic. And the plagues he faces are far more terrifying.
While we’ve learned to live with seasonal variants of Covid, we find this southern city serving up a new variant of the plague bacillus for the series, called YP2. Due to the lack of treatment, the central government decides to shut down the city to save the rest of the country. Then to use the mysterious “Plan D”, the nefarious origins of which will be revealed later in the episode.
Fans of Albert Camus’ novel will clearly recognize its central characters the plague, such as Rieux, camped by Frédéric Pierrot, Rambert or Tarot. But according to Hugo Becker, who credits the journalist Sylvain Rambert, the whole point of adapting such a masterpiece of literature is clearly not to go for a classical transposition.
“There are characters in the novel, with the same problems, the same dilemmas, but to reproduce and do exactly the same things as in the past would not be of much interest”The actor explained to our microphone. “It’s already been done very well and with recent events like Covid, it’s very interesting to position ourselves in anticipation because the series is set in 2029, it’s quite possible and it speaks to all of us after what we’ve been through. Recent years with covid and containment”.
For screenwriter and producer Georges-Marc Benamou, the idea was not to offer a series about Covid, but more broadly to reflect the changes in the world and society as we know it, between health crises and the rise of radicalism. . Quite visionary themes of Camus’ work.
“We didn’t want it to be like Covid. So the idea is to set the series after the Covid outbreak. To try to include a little bit more so that people don’t say to themselves, ‘Oh, it’s just one. more covid”explains whoever is producing this upcoming series through Siècle Productions.’
“We had to maintain the authenticity of the message of this book, which is one of the five most read books in the world, while at the same time crossing modern concerns such as epidemics, modern fascism, totalitarianism, remote surveillance. The symbol of la. Camus’s Peste is about intolerance, hatred, strife, not words. These were dark years and some fascism. With Gilles Tauran, we wanted to bring this into the modern era of the series. And all this with the support of Catherine Camus. , the daughter of Camus, who loves soap operas and loves to take risks”.
And if this mini-series, a very focused thriller, according to the main stakeholders, is clearly risky, the audience should not expect science fiction.
“It’s a light dystopia, it’s 2029, there are no rockets in the sky (laughs)”The plague screenwriter continues. “It’s a low expectation, a bit like Fahrenheit 451 in Truffaut. We’re not in SF, or it would almost take away from the personal stakes. We have this paranoid atmosphere, under the sun. Camus’s book is it. It’s Oran, it’s A city under a crushing sun. Hence, certain scenes of Nice that are important to us for the series.”.
Sofia Esaide and Hugo Becker are happy to collaborate for the first time
Invited by CANNESERIES to Cannes to officially announce the start of filming, Hugo Becker and Sofia Esaide admit they didn’t hesitate much before agreeing to play journalist Sylvain Rambert and scientist and whistleblower Laurence Molinier, the series’ couple. .
“I like fighting heroes. I play a scientist who fights for the truth. As soon as there is a reason to defend, I go there.”confides Sofia Essaide, who has produced projects on the small screen such as The Promise, The Combattantes, and What Does My Family Do? “I have some interesting things to explore. Within minutes of reading the script, I said yes.”
Hugo Becker, for his part, believes that this adaptation in the form of expectation was the only way not to suffer from comparison with the monument of literature. the plague by Camus. And he is immediately seduced by the tension that inhabits his character as a journalist, torn between fulfilling his duty and satisfying his desires for happiness.
“He’s an extremely real character. I liked that tension. The character maintains a real generosity of spirit, but he’s flawed, there’s a real truth to him that makes him very human, very close to the US.”Explains I promise you a star. “And then La Peste is a great classic, so when you’re an actor you want to put yourself in the service of great ideas and great work.”.
The two actresses who walked the CANNESERIES pink carpet last night promise a very good chorus series, “In which every role matters”. And especially the women who were almost absent in Albert Camus’s book and who are represented here by Pascal Arbilot, Judith Chemla or Constance Bascu.
“There are a lot of great actors in this series. Frédéric Pierrot, Judith Chemla, Pascal Arbilo, Patrick Mill, Johan Heldenberg. It was a pleasure to read, to see them work, we were at the screening.”– says Hugo Becker, who will shoot his first sections tomorrow.
On the other hand, she will have to wait a little while to answer Sofia Esaid, who will join the France 2 series teams in just a few weeks. But the mutual understanding between those who attribute their qualities to Sylvain and Laurence is already noticeable in the interview.
“We are working together for the first time and we are happy because we understand each other very well”Sofia Esaidi claims. “We have a great connection, and it’s great, because when we play a couple, we know that we don’t have to look for that connection, it’s all very natural. And that’s not always the case (laughs). I’m sure I’ll tell you in two and a half months that on this set We had fun together. We feel it.”.
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
