Grandson of the famous writer and director Marcel Pagnol, Nicolas Pagnol presents on Tuesday in "Media Culture" the comic strip "The Prayer to the Stars", the name of the film that his grandfather was never able to release.
Asked about the productions of his ancestor whom he would like to see reborn, the artist reveals an unknown and committed part of his work.
INTERVIEW
The film never got to see the light of day.
His screenplay is finally adapted, 80 years later, into a comic book.
La Prayer aux étoiles
is the name of the cinematographic trilogy that Marcel Pagnol was to produce following the Marseille trilogy of plays and films
Marius, Fanny
and
César
.
His scenario is finally reborn in a comic that the grandson of the writer and director, Nicolas Pagnol, presents Tuesday at the microphone of Philippe Vandel in the program
Culture Médias
.
>> Find Philippe Vandel and Culture-Médias every day from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here
The Prayer to the
Stars, written directly for the cinema, was to tell the story of another trio in three parts: Dominique, Florence and Pierre.
This love triangle, chaotic filming and post-production made impossible by World War II and the Nazi occupier, will ultimately be destroyed by its own director, Marcel Pagnol.
Nicolas Pagnol is therefore delighted to see this story reborn in a two-volume comic strip.
"Topaz" and "The Merchants of Glory"
,
two critical works of power
Asked about the works of his grandfather whom he would now like to see adapted to the taste of the day, the playwright's grandson evokes an unknown play written by the young Marcel Pagnol. "I would very much like
Topaze to
be brought up again today
, which is a piece that caused a great scandal at the time", wishes Nicolas Pagnol. "This play is a satire that dismantles the mechanisms of political corruption and shows us that politicians are not smarter than others, but simply help each other."
But the artist's grandson also evokes another political work signed by his grandfather:
The Merchants of Glory
.
"It is a play written by four hands with Paul Nivoix, which is in the vein of
Topaze"
, he observes.
"He tells us about the gun dealers, the war profiteers during the First World War, who are again politicians. These youth works are very demanding on this subject."
>> READ ALSO -
The true story of 'The prayer to the stars', the missing trilogy of Marcel Pagnol
Merchants of Glory
tells the story of a young man who heroically dies at the front lines, as a result of which his father becomes president of an association of war heroes and begins a political career.
"And then the son comes back because he is not dead: he was interned in a psychiatric hospital", reveals Nicolas Pagnol.
"The father and all his friends decide to hide the son, to send him to the colonies, so that they can continue their ascent."
Like
The Prayer to the Stars
,
Topaze
has been adapted into two comic book volumes.
The text of the play
The Merchants of Glory
, not yet bubble-edited, is still being edited today.