Fabrice Luchini lit Victor Hugo

"I first read Victor Hugo's texts and poems to the public in June 2021, in the gardens of the Maison de Chateaubriand. Contrary to the words of André Gide, a fine analyst, "Who is the greatest French poet? Victor Hugo, alas", for me there are dazzling aspects to Victor Hugo's writing that go beyond that of a gifted craftsman, as well as the joys of writing that emerge from his highly fertile creative output.
Alongside the show on La Fontaine et le confinement that I have been performing since 2022, I wanted to return to this more austere exercise, to offer the audience a pure reading of texts, including the sublime Booz endormi, which Marcel Proust described as the finest of the 19th century, poems on the death of his daughter and comments on Victor Hugo by writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Charles Péguy.
The reading begins at the time of his exile in Jersey and Guernsey, and evokes in particular the death of his daughter Léopoldine.
I dedicate this reading to the director Sophie Fillières, who passed away in the summer of 2023, and with whom I had the immense pleasure of preparing a film about Victor Hugo.

Fabrice Luchini