This 200 minute biography of the great novelist, Honoré de Balzac, is presented in two episodes (for convenient division into two viewing sessions) and was originally developed for French television. It features marvelous period costumes and settings and an all-star cast, but it all goes for naught because the subject’s personal life was rather boring and unenviable while his brilliant work gets short shrift in this production.

Historical Background: Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was one of the most prolific and, arguably, greatest French authors despite living just a half-century. Born in Tours, France, he studied law in Paris but developed no interest in practicing law and soon turned his attention to writing. He was inspired by contact with such literary luminaries as Victor Hugo, George Sand, and Comte Victor de Vigny. He worked diligently – sometimes frenetically – at writing, producing more than a hundred novels over the course of his career – ninety of which he grouped together in a grand work he entitled La comédie humaine (“The Human Comedy”), as a parallel to Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Balzac is credited with originating the movement that became known as “realism” in literature. He drew from his personal experiences in creating characters and situations, providing his novels with a verisimilitude not previously evident in works of fiction. The realism was supplemented by his vivid imagination and exuberant style. Many nineteenth century French novelists, such as Emile Zola, continued to develop the concept of realism until it ultimately became a codified system of tenets that included impartial objectivity on the part of the author and an observational methodology derived from scientific method and “clinical” observation of the human condition. Film-lovers sometimes wonder why the Italian and French film movements immediately following World War II were called “Neo-realism,” since there was no previous identified period of “realism” in film. The “Neo” was in deference to 19th century literary realism originated by Balzac.

The Story: The film begins with a scene from the childhood of Balzac (Gérard Depardieu) designed to illustrate the coldness of his mother (Jeanne Moreau). Paying a rare visit to him in boarding school, she refuses him kisses and caresses because of his poor academic standing in his class. Next, we see Balzac as a young struggling writer observing copies of his unappreciated early novels (under various pen names) being carted off to the dump. His publishing business is failing and his mother continues to belittle and diminish him with every contact. Balzac’s fortunes are held together by his catering to an older lover, Madame de Berny (Virna Lisi), who defrays his expenses. He pursues another and younger mistress as well, Laure d’Abrantès (Katja Riemann), but their relationship comes crashing down when Balzac’s obsession with his work denies her the attention she requires. Balzac’s status as an author begins to rise, more among readers than critics, but his finances remain tattered. He is constantly hounded by the bailiff, Plissoud (Claude Rich), who periodically repossesses his knickknacks and furniture. He also spends a few days in prison for ignoring his draft notices. His doctor, Dr. Nacquart (François Marthouret), is constantly on his case about his overeating and excessive consumption of coffee.

Among the numerous mostly female admirers of his literary genius is one from Russia who signs only “The Stranger.” He is fascinated, especially considering that her letter suggests she is of the nobility. She turns out to be Madame Eva Hanska, a married woman whose husband, Count Hanska is in ill-health. Balzac becomes Eva’s lover and is reduced to waiting for the Count to die. Balzac is barely able to evade a duel with the Count after the man discovers letters written to his wife by Balzac. Balzac’s relationship with Eva becomes a sixteen year pursuit that does finally culminate in marriage, but only after waiting for both the Count’s demise and the settlement of his estate (Eva’s share would have been severely jeopardized by remarriage or even the taint of scandal). By the time of his marriage, Balzac’s health is in serious deterioration and he manages only a short period of connubial bliss before succumbing to “dropsy” (which we now call “congestive heart failure”).

Themes: The principal theme in Balzac: A Life of Passion is Balzac’s struggle to find genuine love and his sublimation of the pain of being unloved into his prodigious work effort. The theme is introduced in the very first scene, when the young Balzac, in boarding school, receives just the second visit from his mother is several years. She refuses to kiss him or caress him because he is third-to-last academically in his class. Later, we observe Balzac confront his mother about his feeling that she only loved his half-brother, Henry. Henry, it seems, was the product of a romantic fling, while Honoré was a legitimate child, but from an unhappy marriage. He reminded his mother too much of the unloved father. This theme of being unloved is really only fully crystallized in the last fifteen minutes of the film by two conversations. When pinned down, Balzac’s beloved wife, Madame Evelina Hanska, can only muster that she experiences flames of passion only for the artist in Balzac, while feeling only pity for him as a man. And as he lies dying, his mother, who had offered nothing but coldness and contempt for him through much of his life, can only muster that she is proud of him, but can not bring herself to say that she loves him. In reality, most viewers will see Balzac in pretty much the same way as did these two women in his life: his artistic accomplishments were beautiful and admirable but his personal qualities were hardly worthy of either love or respect.

Production Values: There is much to admire about this film, especially considering that it was produced originally for French television. If one takes for comparison the typical offerings of American television, this is an admirable piece of work indeed. With its commercial distribution, however, it has to be subjected to the sterner comparison with feature films in general.

The cast assembled for Balzac: A Life of Passion is certainly extraordinary. Gérard Depardieu should need no introduction for most readers. He is the greatest French actor of his generation with innumerable film credits, including Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean de Florette (see Jean de Florette/Manon), La Chevre, and Get Out Your Handkerchiefs. Jeanne Moreau, who played Charlotte-Laure, Balzac’s mother, is perhaps best known for her lead role in Jules and Jim (1962), but has also had lesser roles in such films as A Woman is a Woman (1960) and La Femme Nikita (1990). Fanny Ardent was very effective as Eve Hanska. She later appeared in such films as Melo (1986) and Ridicule (1996). I immediately recognized Gottfried John, who played Count Hanska, from his part in GoldenEye (1995) but he also appeared in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978). Virni Lisi, who played Madame de Berny, had a long career, including How to Murder Your Wife (1965) and Queen Margot (1994). All the performances are exemplary in this film, from the leads to the supporting roles.

Another strength of the film is the lavish sets and magnificent period costumes. The ambiance of the period is nicely captured in every respect. The cinematography is not especially remarkable but fully adequate.

The Difficulty: Balzac was a man of tremendous accomplishment as a writer but with very little to boast about in his personal life. Aside from his literary creations, his life was unremarkable, except perhaps in its dissolute and slovenly quality. Balzac was unable to control his appetites – for food, coffee, buying trinkets and paintings, and women. He brought on, by dint of his own habits, the financial problems that tormented his life and the health problem that curtailed it. He was a very poor businessman, losing money as a publisher and in a variety of other ill-advised ventures. He was constantly hounded by creditors and survived mainly on the largesse of wealthy lovers. So, we have here a man who is and should be of great interest to students of literature for his great contributions as a writer, but whose personal life is hardly worthy of emulation or exploitation for entertainment value. It is interesting, in that respect, to contrast this film of almost 200 minutes with another film about a great artist, Amadeus. Mozart’s life was also characterized by debt and personal conflicts and was not especially exemplary or interesting – other than his childhood when he was a touring wunderkind. Yet, Amadeus is a brilliant and highly entertaining film because it focuses as much on the products of Mozart’s artistic genius as on his personal life. It also rides the theme of professional envy on the part of Salieri, a competitor. In Balzac: A Life of Passion, viewers are provided with no sense of Balzac’s works, other than the weaving in of a few references to particular titles. The film is almost exclusively about Balzac’s less than admirable personal life while saying next to nothing about the essence of his creative genius. Moreover, there is no rich theme comparable to the issue of envy in Amadeus.

Bottom-Line: This is a film with strong production values, from casting to the magnificent period sets and costumes. The major problem with the film is that Balzac’s personal life was just not film worthy, consisting mainly of dissipation, ill-health, conflicts with his mother and creditors, and inability to curb his prodigious appetites. His artistic life, by contrast, was extraordinary and would be worthy of biographical illumination, but the script writers were apparently unable to find a way to present the man’s literary genius in an interesting way. The result is a 200 minutes study of a not very admirable human being rather than the brilliant novelist. I therefore recommend the film only for history or literature buffs or those with a special interest in Balzac. Balzac: A Life of Passion is in French with English subtitles. The extras on the DVD are minimal, consisting of a few filmographies.

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older