The Colors of Fire: From Novel to Film
The movie Colors of firedirected by Clovis Cornillac and released in 2022, is the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Pierre Lemaitre. The latter is also the author of See you up therefirst part of a trilogy dedicated to the period between the two wars, and adapted for the cinema in 2017 by Albert Dupontel.
But then, the film Colors of fire is it based on a true story? While the historical context of the film is authentic, the plot and characters are, for their part, the product of Lemaitre’s imagination. It is therefore a fictional story based on real eventswhile taking some romantic liberties to create a captivating plot.
Colors of fire is set in France in the 1930s, a decade marked by the global economic crisis and growing political tensions. The author, Pierre Lemaitre, explained in an interview with Marianne that it was the themes of tax fraud in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s that served as a starting point for writing the novel. Through these historical elements, he wanted to paint the portrait of an era focusing on lesser-known events. Therefore, the context of the film is part of a historical reality, but the story told is mostly fantasy.
Pierre Lemaitre also takes the example of Ernest Mercier, creator of the French oil company (which later became Total), to build the character of Gustave Joubert (Benoît Poelvoorde), an industrial magnate in the film. Joubert embodies the rise of technocracy and industrial power that characterized the 1930s. He is a sort of caricature of the great industrialists of the time, a voluntary parallel drawn with contemporary figures. Thus, while taking real historical elements, Lemaitre adapts them to build a fiction in its own right.
Fictional characters against the backdrop of historical truths
The central character of Colors of fire is Madeleine Péricourt, heiress to a large family fortune, played by Léa Drucker. This character is purely fictional, but Pierre Lemaitre drew on the social and political facts of the time to build her journey. One of the important aspects of the film is the place of women in 1930s society. At that time, women had neither the right to vote nor the right to write checks, and Lemaitre joined forces with a historian, Camille Cleret, to describe Madeleine’s journey. more credible in this contextThe film shows a determined woman fighting to maintain and lead the family empire, despite the institutional and social obstacles that stand in her way.
Pierre Lemaitre is particularly interested in female characters Colors of fireparticularly through the role of Madeleine. In this work she explores the condition of women after the First World War, a period in which they occupied a more important place in society due to the absence of men who went to the front. However, after the war, they had to give up some rights and benefits acquired during the conflict. This contrast is at the heart of the character of Madeleine, who fights in a world dominated by men.
A fiction rich in historical echoes
If Colors of fire is not based directly on real events or historical figures, it is set in a period full of economic and political upheavals. The film, like the novel, draws inspiration from this reality to weave a complex plot that reflects some of the issues of the time, such as the rise of technocratic elites, corruption or the position of women in a patriarchal society. Lemaitre explains that, although he did not try to establish a direct link with current events, the resonances between the 1930s and certain contemporary situations are not trivial.
Source: Cine Serie
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