{"id":27623,"date":"2019-11-20T14:14:15","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T13:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=27623"},"modified":"2025-12-04T22:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:30:09","slug":"i-accuse-polanski-of-making-an-average-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/cinema\/films\/jaccuse-polanski-davoir-sorti-un-film-moyen\/","title":{"rendered":"I accuse Polanski of releasing a mediocre film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Accuse<\/em>, Roman Polanski\u2019s new film, has just been released in theaters. It tells the story of the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel), a French soldier of Jewish descent, and the discovery of his innocence by Commander Picquart (Jean Dujardin), who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel. dogged by controversies over acts he allegedly committed forty years earlier and new accusations, Polanski has delivered a film that is, to say the least, mediocre. And that is the only thing that concerns us here.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Let's review the facts. At the end of the 19thth<\/sup> In the 19th century, in France, a veritable political and judicial storm shook the country and all of Europe, against a backdrop of growing anti-Semitism and ideological tensions. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, of Alsatian origin and Jewish faith, was convicted by the French government of treason against the army. He was sent to a penal colony in French Guiana. In reality, this was a major miscarriage of justice: the officer was innocent, and the evidence cited to convict him\u2014based on the handwriting in a manuscript\u2014was fabricated. The anti-Semitism of the general staff would be laid bare for all to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2019Dreyfus Affair\u00ab\u2014which has gone down in history by that name\u2014is now famous. On January 13, 1898, \u00c9mile Zola published an article in the newspaper The Dawn<\/em> his essay \u00abJ\u2019accuse\u2026!\u00bb, a letter to President F\u00e9lix Faure in which the renowned writer denounced the judicial scandal and asserted that Alfred Dreyfus was innocent. Zola was subsequently convicted by the state of defamation and sentenced to the maximum penalty. It was the media coverage of this highly dramatic trial that led to a split in public opinion across the entire country between Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An investigative film, but a weak one<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The originality of Roman Polanski\u2019s screenplay, based on this case, lies in its focus on Major Picquart\u2014his appointment as head of the intelligence service, his growing doubts about Dreyfus\u2019s guilt, and his arduous journey to prove his innocence. Marie-Georges Picquart fought against his own camp\u2014the institutions of the French military and state. Her thirst for the truth, worthy of an investigator, is in itself a compelling subject for a film and places it firmly in the tradition of crime thrillers\u2014with, of course, all the suspense and restraint that this entails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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