Season 1 • Episode 2
LatestAs Balzac prepares to die, his entire past flashes before his eyes. As a young writer, he was driven by the desire to achieve something great. With the support of Laure de Berny, he started printing and publishing without much success, but it was with his pen that he achieved fame, thanks to the constant support of Madame de Berny. Balzac became a writer that readers devoured.
Acting
Depardieu devours scenery; Moreau and Lisi steal it back.
Production
Dayan's lavish reconstruction of Balzac's chaotic empire.
Creator
Josée Dayan
Fanny Ardant
Eve Hanska
Gérard Depardieu
Honoré de Balzac
Jeanne Moreau
Charlotte-Laure
Virna Lisi
Laure de Berny
Katja Riemann
Laure d’Abrantès
Claude Rich
maitre Plissoud
Sergio Rubini
Eugène Sue
François Marthouret
docteur Nacquart
Marianne Denicourt
Adèle Hugo
Gottfried John
le comte Hanski
Hervé Briaux
Charles Sédillot
Roland Bertin
Stendhal
Jeanne Balibar
Alina Moniuzko
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Depardieu had already played Balzac in 1991's 'Le Colonel Chabert'—this is his second possession by the author.
Dayan assembled three legends of French cinema—Moreau, Lisi, Ardant—to play the women orbiting one giant male ego, a sly commentary in itself.
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