An ambitious biopic. After Edith Piaf and Grace Kelly, director Olivier Dahan looks at the life of a great stateswoman, icon of the fight for women’s rights and against discrimination: Simone Veil. Shifted several times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the film, which is scheduled for release next fall, has just been revealed in a trailer on Monday. As we can see through these images, Simone – The Journey of the Century aims to cover different periods of his life: his childhood, his deportation to Auschwitz, but also his major political battles.
We also discover those who will embody her on the screen, including Rebecca Marder in her youth then Elsa Zylberstein at a more advanced age, when Simone Veil was Minister of Health (in the 1970s, notably carrying the famous Veil law and the decriminalization of abortion in France).
A film that echoes current events
“A movie like Simone – The Journey of the Century only makes sense if it talks about today,” explained Olivier Dahan to BFM TV. “It was the message that interested me. She did things that changed people’s lives. I’m not just talking about abortion, spectacular things. She created childminder positions, things like that. It’s very concrete. As we make a film about a person who has changed people’s lives, it has to talk about people’s lives. »
This biopic particularly echoes American news and the backtracking that is taking place after the right to abortion was revoked and the multiplication of anti-abortion laws.