Les Cent Livres des Hommes
Les Cent Livres des Hommes (ORTF, 1969-1973) was a series of literary programs created by Claude Santelli and Françoise Verny, and produced notably by Santelli, Jean Archimbaud, and Serge Moati. Planned for one hundred episodes but completed at thirty-nine, the series aimed to introduce great literary works, 'chefs-d’œuvre', to a younger audience through a mix of dramatization, reading, and documentary techniques. It marked a transfer of cultural legitimacy from writers and critics to a generation of television producers, offering a new model of educational and creative literary broadcasting - 'télévision d’auteur'.
Episodes
Runtime: 33m
'The Little Prince' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. An introduction to the poetic and philosophical universe of Saint-Exupéry, blending analysis and adaptation of his masterpiece.
'Little Good-For-Nothing' or 'Little What's-His-Name' by Alphonse Daudet.
Runtime: 50m
'The Knot of Vipers' by François Mauriac. A reading of Mauriac's novel that combines personal accounts with adapted scenes.
Runtime: 1h 15m
'The Charterhouse of Parma' by Stendhal.
'Swann's Way' by Marcel Proust.
A realistic and poetic evocation of Marcel Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time.' Halfway between an audiovisual adaptation and a portrait of the dandyish and reclusive writer, all in black and white by Claude Santelli, evoking the mystery, the intimacy, and the fatalism of existence.
'Martin Eden' by Jack London. Claude Santelli and Jean-Louis Muller interview Professor Las Vergnas, a specialist in American literature, who contextualises the book within the author's entire body of work and life. Then, Maurice Le Goas, a labor activist, shares his experience of Jack London's influence on him.
Runtime: 1h 0m
The portrait of Socrates.
The biblical Book of Exodus.
Runtime: 1h 0m
'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
'The Mysterious Island' by Jules Verne.
Runtime: 55m
'My Childhood' by Maxim Gorky.
Runtime: 1h 0m
'Gargantua' by François Rabelais.
Runtime: 30m
'Jude the obscure' by Thomas Hardy.
Runtime: 1h 0m
'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe.
'History of the Revolution' by Jules Michelet.
'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. This program explores Wonderland from every angle: iconic scenes in which Brigitte Fossey portrays a mischievous Alice, readings by Claude Rich, and analyses of the 'delirious metaphysics' of this great literary classic. Lewis Carroll's universe never ceases to amaze!
