{"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\/i-accuse-polanski-of-making-an-average-film\/","title":{"rendered":"I accuse Polanski of making an average film"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

J'accuse<\/em>, Roman Polanski's new film has just been released. It tells the story of the condemnation of the French soldier and Jew Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel) and the discovery of his innocence by Major Picquart, promoted to lieutenant-colonel (Jean Dujardin). Plagued by polemics about what he allegedly did forty years earlier, and by new accusations, Polanski's work is, to say the least, average. And that's the only thing we're interested in here.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Let's review the facts. At the end of the 19thth<\/sup> In France in the 19th century, a political and judicial hurricane shook the country and the whole of Europe, against a backdrop of growing anti-Semitism and ideological tensions. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, of Alsatian origin and Jewish faith, was condemned by the French state for betraying the army. He was sent to the penal colony in French Guiana. A major miscarriage of justice, in fact: the officer was innocent and the evidence cited for his conviction, based on the writing of a manuscript, was false. The anti-Semitism of the general staff was exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2019Dreyfus Affair\u00ab itself, which has gone down in history under this name, is now famous. On January 13 1898, Emile Zola published in the newspaper L'Aurore<\/em> his text \u00abJ'accuse...!\u00bb, a letter to French President F\u00e9lix Faure in which the renowned writer denounces the judicial scandal and asserts that Alfred Dreyfus is innocent. Zola was then condemned by the State for defamation, to the maximum penalty. The media coverage of this high-profile trial led to a split in public opinion across the country between Dreyfus supporters and anti-Dreyfus supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A weak investigative film<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The originality of Roman Polanski's screenplay, based on this affair, lies in its focus on Commandant Picquart, his arrival at the head of the intelligence service, his growing doubts about Dreyfus's guilt, and his difficult journey to prove his innocence. Marie-Georges Picquart fought against his own side, that of the institutions of the French army and state. His investigator's thirst for truth is in itself a fine piece of filmmaking, and places the film in the vein of a detective story. With, of course, all the suspense and sobriety this demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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