Françoise Sagan
For years, whenever people talked about Françoise Sagan, they always mentioned money, race cars, whiskey....It was high time justice was done to her. This film, a kind of self-portrait, is a portrait of Sagan the writer. As Antoine Blondin so appropriately put it: " When will people stop asking her what is usually asked to the very sick ones, the notorious convicts or the predominant taxpayers, and finally realise the humble and passionate respect in which she holds literature?"
Type (Documentaire / Documentaire fiction / Série documentaire)DocumentaryGenre en anglaisArt & cultureCollectionA Century of Writers Directed by Michelle Porte Supported by CNC, Ministère de la Culture (DLL), TSRDistributed by ADAV, Artline FilmsYear1996Duration46min
In 1954, Bonjour Tristesse is published. The novel is shocking. Françoise Sagan, who is 19, becomes a sort of myth, admired or despised. Around the very young, shy and bashful woman, a legend develops. “My book did not deserve such a honour, nor such an indignity, as for myself, my life had become a real cartoon”, Françoise Sagan tells us, in a quick overlook of what the legend of Sagan has been.
Today’s Françoise Sagan, filmed in her apartment and in her house in Deauville, is confronted all along the film to the young Sagan of the Sixties, impressively intelligent, mature and modest, in spite of the stunning success of her first books.
This journey back and forth in time underlines what Sagan will always be: an endearing, lucid, honest, free and generous person, and a constant prey to a real great passion, the passion of writing.
Press coverage
Head bowed with occasional, sudden, intense glances at the camera. Sagan, without ever revealing too much about herself, shows herself. A little. Just enough. Through rapid-fire sentences (but not too rushed this time!), both funny, serious, and beautiful.
Télérama
Strangely, Michelle Porte's documentary leaves the viewer with the feeling that they are seeing and hearing Françoise Sagan for the first time.
Libération
Michelle Porte, who has just created a portrait of Françoise Sagan, has certainly grown attached to her. So have we. Filmed in her Paris apartment or at her home near Honfleur, the writer casts shy glances at her own legend.
Le Figaro
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