EUGÉNIE GRANDET

CINEMANIA’S opinion:
Marc Dugain (director of The Royal Exchange) discovers the excellent Olivier Gourmet, perfect as the miserly Mr Grandet, in this adaptation of Balzac’s novel. Playing opposite him, the young actress Josephine Japy, discovered in Yves Angelo’s Grey Souls (2005) and Melanie Laurent’s Breathe (2014), proves her talent, this time in a more classic repertory. She develops her character by a delicate mix of transparency and moderation. Eugenie is the passive (and forced) witness of a contradictory epoch, that of a France divided between the end of the Monarchy and the Revolution, marked by industrial development, the advent of the bourgeoisie and therefore the reign of money. A harsh historical drama whose gracious stage setting makes it a singular work well worthwhile.