Romain Gary le roman du double, 2010
Director: Philippe Kohly
Scriptwriter: Philippe Kohly
Produced by: Alizés Films, Ethan Productions
France
64’, col.
Original French version with Italian subtitles, video supplied by Film & Picture
The film is a documentary about the double-identity of writer Romain Gary. It is a true story but one on the edge of reality. In 1975 the French Prix Goncourt for literature was awarded to Emile Ajar for the novel “La vie devant soi”, but Emile Ajar was in fact Romain Gary, who wrote the book and invented the author. In this story the boundaries between puppets, puppet-masters and real people blur and merge: the lead characters (Romain Gary and Emile Ajar) live their different roles in an intersection of fictions that will lead to a literary masterpiece. Under a false name, Romain Gary, reborn as an unknown writer, tells the poetic but difficult life lived by a young boy – the “vie devant soi” (a life ahead of him) – so that, despite those difficulties, he can fulfill his destiny.
Milan