Germinal
File:Germinal93.jpg
Directed by	Claude Berri
Produced by	Claude Berri, Pierre Grunstein, Bodo Scriba
Written by	Claude Berri, Arlette Langmann, Émile Zola (novel)
Starring	Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou and Renaud.
Music by	Jean-Louis Roques
Cinematography	Yves Angelo
Editing by	Hervé de Luze
Release date(s)	1993
Running time	160 min.
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	52 375 096 €

Germinal is a 1993 French epic film based on the novel by Émile Zola. It was directed by Claude Berri, and stars Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou and Renaud. At the time it was the most expensive movie ever produced in France.

It won the César Award for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design, and was nominated for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best director, Best Writing, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Music and Best Production Design.

The film, set in the nineteenth century, closely follows the plot of the novel, which is a realistic story of a coalminers' strike in northern France in the 1860s.

Cast[link]

• Miou-Miou - Maheude
• Renaud - Étienne Lantier
• Gérard Depardieu - Toussaint Maheu
• Jean Carmet - Vincent Maheu dit Bonnemort
• Judith Henry - Catherine Maheu
• Jean-Roger Milo - Chaval
• Laurent Terzieff - Souvarine
• Bernard Fresson - Victor Deneulin
• Jean-Pierre Bisson - Rasseneur
• Jacques Dacqmine - Philippe Hennebeau
• Anny Duperey - Madame Hennebeau
• Gérard Croce - Maigrat
• Frédéric van den Driessche - Paul Négrel
• Annick Alane - Madame Grégoire
• Pierre Lafont - Léon Grégoire
• Yolande Moreau - La Levaque

External links[link]

• Germinal (1993 film) at the Internet Movie Database

v t e Cinema of France Actors Directors Cinematographers Editors Films A-Z Producers Score composers Screenwriters Film festivals Films by year: 1892–1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Look up Germinal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Germinal can refer to:

• Germinal (French Republican Calendar), the seventh month of the calendar, approximately March 21 - April 19

Émile Zola[link]

• Germinal (novel), an 1885 novel by Émile Zola
  • Germinal (1913 film), a French silent film based on the Zola novel directed by Albert Capellani
  • Germinal (1963 film), a French film based on the Zola novel directed by Yves Allégret
  • Germinal (1993 film), a film based on the Zola novel directed by Claude Berri

Medicine[link]

• Germinal epithelium (disambiguation), either:
  • Germinal epithelium (male), a layer of cells covering the testicle
  • Germinal epithelium (female), a layer of cells covering the ovary
• Germinal center, area of lymph tissue rich with B cells

Other uses[link]

• Germinal (journal), a Jewish anarchist journal from London
• Germinal (F735), a ship of the French Marine Nationale
• K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot, a Belgian football club

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Claude Berri (1 July 1934 – 12 January 2009), born Claude Berel Langmann^{[citation needed]}, was a French actor, writer, producer, director and distributor.

Life and career[link]

Berri was born in Paris, France, the son of Polish/Romanian Jewish parents^[1] Beila (née Bercu) and Hirsch Langmann, a furrier.^[2] His sister was the screenwriter and editor Arlette Langmann. Berri won the "Best Film" BAFTA for Jean de Florette, and was also nominated for twelve César Awards, though he never won. Berri also won the Oscar for Best Short Film for Le Poulet at the 39th Academy Awards in 1966, and produced Roman Polanski's Tess which was nominated for Best Picture in 1981.

Internationally, however, two films in 1986 overshadow all his other achievements. Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources were huge hits.^[3] In 1991, his film Uranus was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival.^[4] Six years later, his film Lucie Aubrac was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.^[5]

In 2003, he was elected President of the Cinémathèque Française where he obtained enough state subsidies to cover the costs of its resurgence at its new site in the rue de Bercy.^[6]

Berri died of a stroke on 12 January 2009, aged 74.^[7]

He was married to the late Anne-Marie Rassam, with whom he had two children: the late actor Julien Rassam and actor and film producer Thomas Langmann.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

Director[link]

• 1962 : Le Poulet (short) (released 1965) Winner Best Live Action Short Film Oscar (also produced)
• 1964 : Les Baisers (segment « Baiser de 16 ans »)
• 1964 : La Chance et l'amour (segment « La Chance du guerrier »)
• 1967 : Le Vieil Homme et l'Enfant (US title: The Two of Us) (also screenwriter)
• 1968 : Mazel Tov ou le Mariage
• 1969 : Le Pistonné (1969)
• 1970 : Le Cinéma de papa
• 1972 : Sex-shop
• 1975 : Le Mâle du siècle
• 1976 : La Première fois
• 1977 : Un moment d'égarement
• 1980 : Je Vous Aime
• 1981 : Le Maître d'école
• 1983 : Tchao Pantin (English title: So Long, Stooge)
• 1986 : Jean de Florette
• 1986 : Manon des Sources (US title: Manon of the Spring) — sequel to Jean de Florette (second half of the book L'Eau des collines)
• 1990 : Uranus
• 1993 : Germinal at the time, the most expensive French feature film ever made
• 1996 : Lucie Aubrac
• 1999 : La débandade
• 2002 : Une femme de ménage (English title: A Housekeeper)
• 2004 : L'Un reste, l'autre part
• 2007 : Ensemble, c'est tout (English title: Hunting and Gathering)
• 2009 : Trésor (also screenwriter and producer; died after four days of filming)

Producer[link]

• 1962 : Le Poulet (dir. Claude Berri)
• 1967 : Marie pour mémoire (dir. Philippe Garrel) - associate producer
• 1968 : Oratorio for Prague short documentary film (dir. Jan Nemec)
• 1969 : L'Enfance nue (dir. Maurice Pialat)
• 1970 : Le Pistonné (dir. Claude Berri)
• 1970 : La Maison (dir. Gérard Brach)
• 1972 : L'Œuf (dir. Jean Herman)
• 1973 : Pleure pas la bouche pleine (dir. Pascal Thomas)
• 1975 : Le Mâle du siècle (dir. Claude Berri)
• 1976 : Je t'aime… moi non plus (dir. Serge Gainsbourg) - (co-producer)
• 1978 : Vas-y maman (dir. Nicole de Buron) (uncredited)
• 1979 : Tess (dir. Roman Polanski)
• 1980 : Inspecteur la Bavure (dir. Claude Zidi)
• 1982 : Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ (dir. Jean Yanne)
• 1983 : L'Africain (dir. Philippe de Broca)
• 1983 : Banzaï (dir. Claude Zidi)
• 1983 : L'Homme blessé (dir. Patrice Chéreau)
• 1983 : La Femme de mon pote (dir. Bertrand Blier)
• 1983 : Garçon ! (English title: Waiter!|) (dir. Claude Sautet)
• 1985 : Les Enragés (dir. Pierre-William Glenn)
• 1985 : Le Fou de guerre (English title: Madman at War) (dir. Dino Risi) (also French adaptation)
• 1987 : Hôtel de France (dir. Patrice Chéreau)
• 1988 : À gauche en sortant de l'ascenseur (dir. Édouard Molinaro)
• 1988 : L'Ours (English title: The Bear) (dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud)
• 1988 : Trois places pour le 26 (dir. Jacques Demy)
• 1988 : La Petite Voleuse (dir. Claude Miller)
• 1989 : Valmont (dir. Miloš Forman)
• 1992 : L'Amant (English title: The Lover) (dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud)
• 1993 : Une journée chez ma mère (dir. Dominique Cheminal)
• 1994 : La Reine Margot (dir. Patrice Chéreau)
• 1994 : La Séparation (dir. Christian Vincent)
• 1995 : Les Trois Frères (dir. Didier Bourdon) and Bernard Campan (also actor)
• 1995 : Gazon maudit (dir. Josiane Balasko) - (executive producer)
• 1996 : Le Roi des aulnes (German title: Der Unhold; English The Ogre) (dir. Volker Schlöndorff) - (executive producer)
• 1997 : Didier (dir. Alain Chabat)
• 1997 : Arlette (dir. Claude Zidi)
• 1997 : Le Pari (English title: The Bet) (dir. Didier Bourdon and Bernard Campan)
• 1998 : Mookie (dir. Hervé Palud) - (associate producer)
• 1999 : Astérix et Obélix contre César (English title: Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar)(dir. Claude Zidi)
• 1999 : Mauvaise passe (dir. Michel Blanc)
• 2001 : 15 Minutes (dir. Danny Boyle and John Herzfeld)
• 2001 : La Boîte (dir. Claude Zidi)
• 2001 : Ma femme est une actrice (dir. Yvan Attal)
• 2002 : Amen. (dir. Costa-Gavras)
• 2002 : Astérix & Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre (English title: Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra) (dir. Alain Chabat)
• 2003 : Le Bison (et sa voisine Dorine) (dir. Isabelle Nanty)
• 2003 : Une femme de ménage (dir. Claude Berri)
• 2003 : Les Sentiments (dir. Noémie Lvovsky)
• 2004: San-Antonio (dir. Frederic Auburtin)
• 2004 : Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants (dir. Yvan Attal)
• 2005 : L'Un reste, l'autre part (dir. Claude Berri)
• 2005 : Les Enfants (dir. Christian Vincent)
• 2005 : Le Démon de midi (dir. Marie-Pascale Osterrieth)
• 2005 : La Maison du Bonheur (dir. Dany Boon)
• 2007 : Ensemble, c'est tout (dir. Claude Berri)
• 2007 : La Graine et le Mulet (dir. Abdellatif Kechiche)
• 2008 : Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (English title: Welcome to the Sticks) (dir. Dany Boon)

Writer[link]

• 1967 : Le Vieil Homme et l'Enfant (US title: The Two of Us)
• 1968 : Mazel Tov ou le Marriage
• 1969 : Le Pistonné
• 1970 : Le Cinéma de Papa
• 1972 : Sex-shop
• 1975 : Le Mâle du Siècle (English title: Male of the Century )
• 1976 : La Première Fois
• 1977 : Un Moment d'Égarement
• 1980 : Je Vous Aime
• 1981 : Le Maître d'École
• 1983 : Tchao Pantin (English title: So Long, Stooge)
• 1986 : Manon des Sources (US title: Manon of the Spring)
• 1986 : Jean de Florette
• 1990 : Uranus
• 1993 : Germinal
• 1997 : Lucie Aubrac
• 1999 : La Débandade
• 2002 : Une Femme de Ménage (English title: A Housekeeper)
• 2004 : L'un Reste, l'Autre Part (English title: One Stays, the Other Leaves)
• 2007 : Ensemble, c'est tout (English title: [Hunting and Gathering)

Actor[link]

• The Wounded Man (1983)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Claude Berri at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary of Claude Berri
• Claude Berri at the CinéArtistes (French)

Émile Zola
Born	Émile François Zola (1840-04-02)2 April 1840 Paris, France
Died	29 September 1902(1902-09-29) (aged 62) Paris, France
Occupation	Novelist, playwright, journalist
Nationality	French
Genres	Naturalism
Notable work(s)	Les Rougon-Macquart, Thérèse Raquin
Influences Honoré de Balzac, Claude Bernard, Charles Darwin, Jules Michelet, Hippolyte Taine
Influenced George Orwell, Tom Wolfe, naturalist literature, Jan ten Brink, Anton Chekhov
Signature

Émile François Zola (French pronunciation: [e.mil zɔ.la]; 2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902)^[1] was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline J'Accuse.

Early life[link]

Zola was born in Paris in 1840. His father, François Zola (originally Francesco Zolla), was an Italian engineer. With his French wife Émilie Aurélie Aubert, the family moved to Aix-en-Provence in the southeast, when Émile was three years old. Four years later in 1847, his father died leaving his mother on a meager pension. In 1858 the Zolas moved to Paris, where Émile's childhood friend Paul Cézanne soon joined him. Zola started to write in the romantic style. His widowed mother had planned a law career for Émile but he failed his Baccalauréat examination.

Before his breakthrough as a writer, Zola worked as a clerk in a shipping firm and then in the sales department for a publisher (Hachette). He also wrote literary and art reviews for newspapers. As a political journalist, Zola did not hide his dislike of Napoleon III, who had successfully run for the office of President under the constitution of the French Second Republic, only to misuse this position as a springboard for the coup d'état that made him emperor.

Career[link]

Zola early in his career.

Paul Cézanne, Paul Alexis reading to Emile Zola, 1869-1870, São Paulo Museum of Art

During his early years, Émile Zola wrote several short stories and essays, four plays and three novels. Among his early books was Contes à Ninon, published in 1864. With the publication of his sordid autobiographical novel La Confession de Claude (1865) attracting police attention, Hachette fired him. His novel Les Mystères de Marseille appeared as a serial in 1867.

After his first major novel, Thérèse Raquin (1867), Zola started the series called Les Rougon Macquart, about a family under the Second Empire. In Paris Zola maintained his friendship with Cézanne who painted a portrait of him with another friend from Aix-en-Provence writer Paul Alexis entitled Paul Alexis reading to Zola.

Literary output[link]

More than half of Zola's novels were part of this set of 20 collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start at the age of 28 had thought of the complete layout of the series. Set in France's Second Empire, the series traces the "environmental" influences of violence, alcohol and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. The series examines two branches of a family: the respectable (that is, legitimate) Rougons and the disreputable (illegitimate) Macquarts for five generations.

As he described his plans for the series, "I want to portray, at the outset of a century of liberty and truth, a family that cannot restrain itself in its rush to possess all the good things that progress is making available and is derailed by its own momentum, the fatal convulsions that accompany the birth of a new world."

Although Zola and Cézanne were friends from childhood, they broke in later life over Zola's fictionalized depiction of Cézanne and the Bohemian life of painters in his novel L'Œuvre (The Masterpiece, 1886).

From 1877 with the publication of l'Assommoir, Émile Zola became wealthy; he was better paid than Victor Hugo, for example. He became a figurehead among the literary bourgeoisie and organized cultural dinners with Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans and other writers at his luxurious villa in Medan near Paris after 1880. Germinal in 1885, then the three 'cities', Lourdes in 1894, Rome in 1896 and Paris in 1897, established Zola as a successful author.

The self-proclaimed leader of French naturalism, Zola's works inspired operas such as those of Gustave Charpentier, notably Louise in the 1890s. His works, inspired by the concepts of heredity (Claude Bernard), social Manicheanism and idealistic socialism, resonate with those of Nadar, Manet and subsequently Flaubert.

The Dreyfus affair[link]

Front page cover of the newspaper L’Aurore for Thursday 13 January 1898, with the letter J’Accuse...!, written by Émile Zola about the Dreyfus affair. The headline reads "I accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic".

Captain Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish artillery officer in the French army. When the French intelligence found information about someone giving the German embassy military secrets, anti-semitism seems to have caused senior officers to suspect Dreyfus, though there was no direct evidence of any wrongdoing. Dreyfus was court-martialled, convicted of treason and sent to Devil's Island in French Guiana.

Lt. Col. Georges Picquart came across evidence that implicated another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy and informed his superiors. Rather than move to clear Dreyfus, the decision was made to protect Esterhazy and ensure the original verdict was not overturned. Major Hubert-Joseph Henry forged documents that made it seem that Dreyfus was guilty and then had Picquart assigned to duty in Africa. Before leaving, Picquart told some of Dreyfus's supporters what he knew. Soon Senator August Scheurer-Kestner took up the case and announced in the Senate that Dreyfus was innocent and accused Esterhazy. The right-wing government refused new evidence to be allowed and Esterhazy was tried and acquitted. Picquart was then sentenced to 60 days in prison.

Émile Zola risked his career and more on 13 January 1898, when his "J'accuse",^[2] was published on the front page of the Paris daily L'Aurore. The newspaper was run by Ernest Vaughan and Georges Clemenceau, who decided that the controversial story would be in the form of an open letter to the President, Félix Faure. Émile Zola's "J'Accuse" accused the highest levels of the French Army of obstruction of justice and antisemitism by having wrongfully convicted Alfred Dreyfus to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. Zola's intention was that he be prosecuted for libel so that the new evidence in support of Dreyfus would be made public.^[3] The case, known as the Dreyfus affair, divided France deeply between the reactionary army and church and the more liberal commercial society. The ramifications continued for many years; on the 100th anniversary of Zola's article, France's Roman Catholic daily paper, La Croix, apologized for its antisemitic editorials during the Dreyfus Affair. As Zola was a leading French thinker, his letter formed a major turning-point in the affair.

Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel on 7 February 1898 and was convicted on 23 February and removed from the Legion of Honor. Rather than go to jail, Zola fled to England. Without even having had the time to pack a few clothes, he arrived at Victoria Station on 19 July. After his brief and unhappy residence in London, from October 1898 to June 1899, he was allowed to return in time to see the government fall.

The government offered Dreyfus a pardon (rather than exoneration), which he could accept and go free and so admit that he was guilty or face a re-trial in which he was sure to be convicted again. Although he was clearly not guilty, he chose to accept the pardon. Zola said, "The truth is on the march, and nothing shall stop it."^[4] In 1906, Dreyfus was completely exonerated by the Supreme Court.

The 1898 article by Émile Zola is widely marked in France as the most prominent manifestation of the new power of the intellectuals (writers, artists, academicians) in shaping public opinion, the media and the state.

Death[link]

Gravestone of Émile Zola at cimetière Montmartre; his remains are now interred in the Panthéon.

Zola died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a stopped chimney on the 29th of September 1902. He was 62 years old. His funeral on 5 October was attended by thousands, according to the New York Times at the time. Captain Dreyfus initially had promised not to attend the funeral but was given permission by Mme Zola and attended.^[5][6]

His enemies were blamed for his death because of previous attempts on his life but nothing could be proved. (Decades later, a Parisian roofer claimed on his deathbed to have closed the chimney for political reasons).^[7] Addresses of sympathy arrived from all parts of France; for a week the vestibule of his house was crowded with notable writers, scientists, artists and politicians, who came to inscribe their names in the registers. On the other hand, Zola's enemies used the opportunity to celebrate in malicious glee.^[8] Thus, Henri Rochefort wrote a piece in "L'Intransigeant", claiming Zola had committed suicide, having discovered Dreyfus to be in fact guilty. Zola was initially buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris but on 4 June 1908, almost six years after his death, his remains were moved to the Panthéon, where he shares a crypt with Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas.^[9]

Scope of the Rougon-Macquart series[link]

Zola’s 20 Rougon-Macquart novels are a panoramic account of the Second French Empire. They are the story of a family principally between the years 1851 and 1871. These 20 novels contain over 300 major characters, who descend from the two family lines of the Rougons and Macquarts and who are related. In Zola’s words, which are the subtitle of the Rougon-Macquart series, they are "L’Histoire naturelle et sociale d’une famille sous le Second Empire"("The natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire").

Most of the Rougon-Macquart novels were written during the French Third Republic. To an extent, attitudes and value judgments may have been superimposed on that picture with the wisdom of hindsight. The débâcle in which the reign of Napoleon III of France culminated may have imparted a note of decadence to certain of the novels about France in the years before that disastrous defeat. Nowhere is the doom laden image of the Second Empire so clearly seen as in Nana, which culminates in echoes of the Franco-Prussian War (and hence by implication of the French defeat). Even in novels dealing with earlier periods of Napoleon III’s reign the picture of the Second Empire is sometimes overlaid with the imagery of catastrophe.

In the Rougon-Macquart novels, provincial life tends to be overshadowed by Zola’s preoccupation with the capital. Only in his picture of rural working-class life in La Terre and in the corresponding picture of industrial working-class life in Germinal, does Zola convincingly escape from Paris into the provinces. The life of provincial towns is an even more noticeable omission from his achievement, for only in Le Rêve and in the twice repeated picture of Plassans (modeled upon his childhood home, Aix-en-Provence) does he achieve such a portrait (La Fortune des Rougon, La Conquête de Plassans). Le Docteur Pascal has the same setting but cannot properly be termed a novel of provincial life. La Débâcle, the military novel is set for the most part in country districts of eastern France; its dénouement takes place in the capital during the civil war leading to the suppression of the Paris Commune. Like Balzac, Zola’s imagination was roused by Paris and all that the capital represented to him.

Quasi-scientific purpose[link]

In Le Roman expérimental and Les Romanciers naturalistes Zola expounded the purposes of the 'Naturalist' novel. The experimental novel was to serve as a vehicle for scientific experiment, analogous to the experiments conducted by Claude Bernard and expounded by him in Introduction à la médecine expérimentale. Claude Bernard’s experiments were in the field of clinical physiology, those of the Naturalist writers (Zola being their leader) would be in the realm of psychology. Balzac, Zola claimed had already investigated the psychology of lechery in an experimental manner, in the figure of Hector Hulot in La Cousine Bette. Essential to Zola’s concept of the experimental novel was dispassionate observation of the world, with all that it involved by way of meticulous documentation. Each novel should be based upon a dossier. With this object in view he visited the colliery of Anzin in northern France, in February 1884 when a strike was on; he visited La Beauce (for La Terre), Sedan, Ardennes (for La Débâcle) and travelled on the railway line between Paris and Le Havre (when researching La Bête humaine). Zola sometimes professed his awareness that the work of any creative artist must by its very nature be subjective.

Characterization[link]

Édouard Manet, Portrait of Émile Zola, 1868, Musée d'Orsay

For a writer who so strongly asserted the claim of Naturalist literature to be an experimental analysis of human psychology, Zola has seemed to many critics like György Lukács,^[10] to be strangely deficient in the power of creating life-like and memorable characters. These critics admit his ability to evoke powerful and moving crowd scenes but argue that he lacked the ability to create memorable characters, in the manner of Honoré de Balzac or Charles Dickens and the ability to make his characters true to life. It was important to Zola that no character should appear larger than life;^[11] but the criticism that Zola’s characters are cardboard, is a substantially more damaging one which in view of the characterization of Gervaise Macquart (L'Assommoir), Nana Coupeau (Nana), Jacques Lantier (La Bête humaine), Serge Mouret (La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret), Jean Macquart (La Terre) and Pascal Rougon (Le Docteur Pascal), may seriously be doubted. Zola, by refusing to make any of his characters larger than life (if that is what he has indeed done), did not inhibit himself from also achieving verisimilitude.

Although Zola would not accept that it was either scientifically or artistically justifiable to create larger-than-life characters, his work does present a number of larger-than-life symbols which, like the mine Le Voreux in Germinal, take on the nature of a surrogate human life. The mine, the still in L'Assommoir and the locomotive La Lison in La Bête humaine impress the reader with the vivid reality of human beings. The great natural processes of seedtime and harvest, death and renewal in La Terre are instinct with a vitality which is not human but is the elemental energy of life.^[12] Human life is raised to the level of the mythical as the hammerblows of Titans are seemingly heard underground at Le Voreux or in La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret, the walled park of Le Paradou encloses a re-enactment – and restatement – of the myth of the Book of Genesis. This is the visionary aspect of the Rougon-Macquart series.

Zola’s optimism[link]

In Zola there is the theorist and the imaginative writer, the poet, the scientist and the optimist.

The poet is the artist in words whose writing, as in the racecourse scene in Nana or in the descriptions of the laundry in L'Assommoir or in many passages of La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret, Le Ventre de Paris and La Curée, vies with the colourful impressionistic techniques of Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The scientist is the believer in some measure of scientific determinism – not that this, despite his own words “dépourvus de libre arbitre”,^[13] need always amount to a philosophical denial of free will. The creator of “la littérature putride”, a term of abuse invented by an early critic of Thérèse Raquin (a novel which predates Les Rougon-Macquart series), emphasizes the squalid aspects of the human environment and upon the seamy side of human nature.^[14]

The optimist is that other face of the scientific experimenter, the man with an unshakable belief in human progress. Zola bases his optimism on innéité and on the supposed capacity of the human race to make progress in a moral sense. Innéité is defined by Zola as that process in which “se confondent les caractères physiques et moraux des parents, sans que rien d'eux semble s’y retrouver”;^[15] it is the term used in biology to describe the process whereby the moral and temperamental dispositions of some individuals are unaffected by the hereditary transmission of genetic characteristics. Jean Macquart and Pascal Rougon are two instances of individuals liberated from the blemishes of their ancestors by the operation of the process of innéité.

Evident in Le Docteur Pascal, and again in Fécondité (which is not part of the Rougon-Macquart series), is Zola's conviction that as scientific research makes progress step by step and from generation to generation, so by slow degrees but in a similarly steadfast manner the moral progress of the human race will be achieved as the environmental faults of particular societies are swept away, as (through innéité) the hereditary failings of particular families are overcome and as on a universal scale – in novels beyond the framework of the Rougon-Macquart series – humanity unites in brotherhood.

Bibliography[link]

See also[link]

• The Life of Émile Zola (1937)
• J'accuse (letter)
• Naturalism (literature)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Borie, Jean (1971) (in French). Zola et les mythes: ou, de la nausée au salut. Pierres vives. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. OCLC 299742040. 
• Brown, Frederick (1995). Zola: A Life. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-29742-8. OCLC 31044880. 
• Ellis, Havelock (1898). "Zola". Affirmations. London: Walter Scott. pp. 131–157. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?seq=173&view=image&size=100&id=uc2.ark:/13960/t9q242r53&u=1&num=131. 
• Hemmings, F.W.J. (1966). Émile Zola. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 3383139. 
• Lukács, György (1950). Studies in European Realism: A Sociological Survey of the Writings of Balzac, Stendhal, Zola, Tolstoy, Gorki and Others. Translated by Edith Bonee; foreword by Roy Pascal. London: Hillway Publishing. OCLC 2463154. 
• Mitterand, Henri (1986) (in French). Zola et le naturalisme [Zola and Naturalism]. Que sais-je?. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. ISBN 978-2-13-039642-0. OCLC 15289843. 
• Mitterand, Henri (1999) (in French). Zola. Paris: Fayard. ISBN 978-2-213-60083-3. OCLC 659987814. 
• Newton, Joy (1967). "Émile Zola: impressionniste" (in French). Cahiers naturalistes. 33. pp. 39–52. 
• Newton, Joy (1967) (in French). Cahiers naturalistes. 34. pp. 124–38. 
• Wilson, Angus (1952). Émile Zola: An Introductory Study of His Novels. London: Secker and Warburg. OCLC 818448. 

External links[link]

Find more about Émile Zola on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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• Dreyfus Rehabilitated
• Émile Zola at InterText Digital Library (French)
• Émile Zola at Livres & Ebooks (French)
• Émile Zola exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Livres audio gratuits pour Emile Zola (French)
• Woehr, Jack J. (2004) "The Rougon-Macquart Novels of Emile Zola (for English-speaking Readers)" http://www.well.com/user/jax/literature/Rougon-Macquart.html. Retrieved 28 January 2011 
• Works about Émile Zola at the Internet Archive
• Works by Émile Zola on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• Works by Émile Zola at Project Gutenberg

Gérard Depardieu, CQ
Gérard Depardieu at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (1948-12-27) 27 December 1948 (age 63) Châteauroux, Indre, France
Spouse	Élisabeth Guignot (m. 1971–1996, divorced)
Partner	Carole Bouquet (1997–2005) Clémentine Igou (2005–present)
Children	Guillaume (deceased), Julie, Roxanne, Jean

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (French pronunciation: [ʒeʁaʁ dəpaʁdjø] ( listen); born 27 December 1948) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor. He also won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in Green Card and was nominated for an Academy Award for the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac.

Early life[link]

Gérard Depardieu was born in Châteauroux, Indre, France. He is one of five children of Anne Jeanne Josèphe "la Liette" (née Marillier) and René Maxime Lionel "le Dédé" Depardieu, a metal worker and volunteer fireman.^[1][2] His mother did not want more children and told Depardieu that she had tried to abort him with knitting needles.^[1] He has stated that as a child he would inspect his hands for scars from the needles.^[1]

Depardieu spent more time on the street than in the classroom and left school at 15.^{[citation needed][3]}

Career[link]

At the age of 16, Depardieu left Châteauroux for Paris. There he began acting in the new comedy theatre Café de la Gare, along with Patrick Dewaere, Romain Bouteille, Sotha, Coluche, and Miou-Miou.^[4] His breakout film role came in 1974 playing Jean-Claude in Bertrand Blier's comedy Going Places.^[5] He studied dancing under Jean-Laurent Cochet, and went on to become one of France's most renowned actors. In 1986, his international fame grew as a result of his performance as a doomed, hunchbacked farmer in the film Jean de Florette. Five years later he won a César for his starring role in Cyrano de Bergerac.

Gerard crossed over into the American film market by co-starring in the 1990 film Green Card. He has since acted in many English language films including The Man in the Iron Mask, 102 Dalmatians, and Last Holiday.

Depardieu with Carole Bouquet at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.

More recently, he has played Obélix in the three Astérix movies in which he is said to have discovered Melanie Laurent when she was 14.^[6] In 2010 Depardieu signed a contract with Bank Zachodni WBK, a Polish bank, to appear in its commercials.^[7]

Personal life[link]

In 1970, Depardieu married Élisabeth Guignot, with whom he had two children, actor Guillaume (1971–2008) and actress Julie (1973). On 28 January 1992, while separated from Élisabeth, he had a daughter, Roxanne, with the model Karine Sylla. In 1996 he divorced Élisabeth and began a relationship with actress Carole Bouquet, who was his partner from 1997 to 2005.^[8] On 14 July 2006, he had a son, Jean, with French-Cambodian Helene Bizot (not to be confused with Hélène Bizot), according to the issue 3089 (31 July 2008) of Paris Match and the Phnom Penh Post.^[9] Since 2005, Depardieu has lived with a Harvard-educated novelist, Clémentine Igou. On 13 October 2008, his son Guillaume died at the age of 37 from complications linked to a sudden case of pneumonia. Depardieu is a well known Anglophile,and has been known to criticise and even insult his home country of France. The most prominent of these was in March 2012, when on Swiss TV after talking of a new movie in which he would play disgraced Monetary fund chief Dominique Strauss Kahn, he said “I think he is a bit like all French people, a bit arrogant. I don’t like the French too much by the way,”

Awards[link]

Depardieu at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Depardieu has been nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role César 15 times during his career and won it twice, in 1981 and 1991. He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1990 for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac.

• 1981: César Award for Best Actor for his role in The Last Metro (Le dernier métro)
• 1985: Venice Film Festival Award for best actor for his role in Police
• 1985: Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite
• 1990: Cannes Film Festival: Best actor award for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac
• 1991: César Award for Best Actor for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac
• 1991: Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role in Green Card
• 1996: Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur.^[10]
• 2006: Moscow International Film Festival: Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting.

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• Cinema of France
• List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

References[link]

External links[link]

• Gérard Depardieu at the Internet Movie Database
• Russian artist Shishkin writes portrait of Gerard Depardieu//Channel One.
• Georgy Shishkin Exhibition in Paris, CANAL+ on YouTube
• Potiche Facebook Page

Awards for Gérard Depardieu v t e Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival) Prix d'interprétation masculine (Best Actor) 1980–1999 Michel Piccoli (1980) Ugo Tognazzi (1981) Jack Lemmon (1982) Gian Maria Volonté (1983) Alfredo Landa/Francisco Rabal (1984) William Hurt (1985) Michel Blanc/Bob Hoskins (1986) Marcello Mastroianni (1987) Forest Whitaker (1988) James Spader (1989) Gérard Depardieu (1990) John Turturro (1991) Tim Robbins (1992) David Thewlis (1993) Ge You (1994) Jonathan Pryce (1995) Pascal Duquenne/Daniel Auteuil (1996) Sean Penn (1997) Peter Mullan (1998) Emmanuel Schotte (1999) Complete List (1946–1959) (1960–1979) (1980–1999) (2000–2019) v t e César Award for Best Actor 1976 Philippe Noiret · 1977 Michel Galabru · 1978 Jean Rochefort · 1979 Michel Serrault · 1980 Claude Brasseur · 1981 Gérard Depardieu · 1982 Michel Serrault · 1983 Philippe Léotard · 1984 Coluche · 1985 Alain Delon · 1986 Christophe Lambert · 1987 Daniel Auteuil · 1988 Richard Bohringer · 1989 Jean-Paul Belmondo · 1990 Philippe Noiret · 1991 Gérard Depardieu · 1992 Jacques Dutronc · 1993 Claude Rich · 1994 Pierre Arditi · 1995 Gérard Lanvin · 1996 Michel Serrault · 1997 Philippe Torreton · 1998 André Dussollier · 1999 Jacques Villeret · 2000 Daniel Auteuil · 2001 Sergi López · 2002 Michel Bouquet · 2003 Adrien Brody · 2004 Omar Sharif · 2005 Mathieu Amalric · 2006 Michel Bouquet · 2007 François Cluzet · 2008 Mathieu Amalric · 2009 Vincent Cassel · 2010 Tahar Rahim · 2011 Éric Elmosnino · 2012 Omar Sy v t e Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (1981–2000) Dudley Moore (1981) Dustin Hoffman (1982) Michael Caine (1983) Dudley Moore (1984) Jack Nicholson (1985) Paul Hogan (1986) Robin Williams (1987) Tom Hanks (1988) Morgan Freeman (1989) Gérard Depardieu (1990) Robin Williams (1991) Tim Robbins (1992) Robin Williams (1993) Hugh Grant (1994) John Travolta (1995) Tom Cruise (1996) Jack Nicholson (1997) Michael Caine (1998) Jim Carrey (1999) George Clooney (2000) Complete list (1950–1960) (1961–1980) (1981–2000) (2001–2020)