Balzac: A Passionate Life

It has been a few years since I saw this film on A&E (I believe). Being a Balzac aficionado and having read a couple of biographies I was quite interested in a biopic treatment of this fascinating individual. The advance advertisement with a naked faced Gerard Depardieu dampened my enthusiasm. When I finally saw it I couldn't believe how a great opportunity could be blown in such a monumental way. The screenplay was actually fairly decent as I recall and stuck fairly close to the facts as I understood them. However, the desire for a major star in the lead role, while in itself not a bad thing, led to a major blot in this production's effectiveness. Gerard Depardieu is about as far from Honore de Balzac as Robert De Niro is from Mark Twain. He is large and tall and there was no attempt to add any facial hair, which Balzac had in every painting as well as the famous daguerreotype. This casting misfire belongs right up there with Hugh O'Brien as Wyatt Earp and John Wayne as Genghis Khan. I'm sure there must be other decent French actors who look, or could look with a little makeup, at least somewhat like Balzac. This is too bad. Who knows when an attempt like this will ever be made again?