New York (AFP)

After a limited theatrical release, Martin Scorsese's epic "The Irishman", a political-mafia historical thriller, arrives on Netflix on Wednesday, driven by a laudatory criticism that has already been pitched for the Oscars.

Around 160 million dollars in budget, 117 different filming locations, 309 distinct scenes, an exceptional cast, a film of nearly 3:30, is one of the most ambitious productions of the director's career. York, which counts a lot.

After "Mean Streets", "The Affranchised" and "Casino", Martin Scorsese was looking for a material strong enough to plunge into the mysteries of the Italian-American mafia.

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese began touring the adaptation of Charles Brandt's book "I Killed Jimmy Hoffa" (I Heard You Paint Houses) 12 years ago.

After eight collaborations, from "Mean Streets" to "Casino", "I did not want to make a film with him if we could not go deeper," Martin Scorsese told an event organized by the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

"There were setbacks," he said modestly during a round table after the screening at the New York Film Festival. "We could not find the funds, there was no way, for years."

After the refusal of several studios, it took the financial power of Netflix to give birth to "The Irishman", the nickname of the mafia Frank Sheeran, whose testimony is the frame of the book and film.

The feature film was released in a limited number of theaters November 1 in the United States and the rest of the world, but not in France, before being posted on Netflix Wednesday.

A former henchman, Frank Sheeran reports that he has killed more than 25 people on the orders of mafia boss Russell Bufalino and boss of the truck driver union, Jimmy Hoffa.

- The time of regrets -

In terms of specifications, the production has added a new technical process developed by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM, a company created by George Lucas), the "de-aging", which rejuvenates an actor or actress on screen.

Robert De Niro, 76, was supposed to play Frank Sheeran from 1955, at the age of 34, until his death in 2003 (aged 83).

They "had to find a solution of rejuvenation that does not interfere with (the game) of Bob (De Niro), Joe (Pesci) and Al (Pacino)", explained Martin Scorsese, "that they do not have to talk to each other wearing helmets or tennis balls on their faces, they would not have done it. "

ILM finally achieved its ends thanks to the cameras and without pairing the actors.

After a few troubling minutes, for whom Robert De Niro has already played, the technical stratagem works globally, as well as for Al Pacino (79), who plays Jimmy Hoffa, in his forties in some scenes.

The first reaction of De Niro seeing himself rejuvenated? "I could extend my 30-year career," he said with a smile, during the presentation of the film in New York.

With "The Irishman", Martin Scorsese returns to the vein of the gangster movies that made his legend, but with a frame closer to facts and real characters.

The dangerous links between politics, trade unionism and organized crime, pillars of American society in the 1960s, serve as a common thread.

The film leaves a little of the tension that animated these works to take a step back, that of Frank Sheeran, old man who, with flashbacks, takes stock of his life and goes through the sieve of morality.

For Scorsese, 77, this reflection on time is also his and that of De Niro, Pacino, Joe Pesci or Harvey Keitel.

"We're 75, 76. We look in the rearview mirror," he said at an event organized by the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. "You think back to the things you did in your life, or the things you wanted to do" and "the consequences".

Regrets, remorse, redemption, for Sheeran as for them, the question arises, says the Oscar winner for "Infiltrates". "And even if you try to redeem yourself, who will know it?

© 2019 AFP