The first sequence,an extract of "Goupi Mains Rouges " , shows Robert Coquillaud alias Le Vigan 's going at a peak of his outstanding talent :as he climbs up and up a tree ,he yells that his fellow men below are like ants and he 's going to reach for the sun; a sun he misses since the left colonial army ,a lost paradise he talks about in another admirable scene in a café (included in the doc).
Now that the dust has settled, Le Vigan is considered one of the best French actors of all time, though to many his name lives in infamy.
He was discovered by the great Julien Duvivier who cast him in one of his masterworks "la bandera" ; when the director was not able to find someone to play Christ ,Le Vigan suggested he take him :his Jesus was more Rasputin-like ,but it worked. Too bad the doc passes over in silence Duvivier's prophetic "le petit roi" in which he plays an anarchist who betrays his little king ,played by Duvivier's young protégé ,Robert Lynen ; the latter grew up to be a resistant fighter shot by the Nazis in WW2 ,whereas Le Vigan became a collaborator .
Actor Christophe Malavoy , a Louis-Ferdinand Celine biographer , tells that Le Vigan ,in spite of his loudmouth,was easily influenced , and let himself be led by the "voyage au bout de la nuit " author into Anti-Semitism and later on into collaboration in the Occupation days.
Pierre Very's son, Noel , intervenes and ,although still a small child at the time ,provides the doc with precious memories : three of Le VIgan's best films were based on his father's novels :"l'assassinat du père noël ","les disparus de Saint-Agil "and his final great film "Goupi Mains Rouges ".
Besides Duvivier ,Le Vigan worked with the creme de la creme of French directors :Renoir ,Carné,Pagnol ,Gance, Autant-Lara,Becker ,and more......
His lawyer pled irresponsibility ,but the price to pay at the Liberation was hard : ten years at hard labor :he was released after two years ,but all French directors turned their back on him and he flew to Argentina where he ended his life in semi-poverty and total anonymity : a doc in color was shot in his final years but never broadcast on TV : many extracts are included in this 2021 film and show a disenchanted man , who does not talk so much about his brilliant -and doomed- career.
He was par excellence the accursed actor ,who,in spite of a deplorable infamous behavior , gave to the French cinema lots of memorable moments.
Now that the dust has settled, Le Vigan is considered one of the best French actors of all time, though to many his name lives in infamy.
He was discovered by the great Julien Duvivier who cast him in one of his masterworks "la bandera" ; when the director was not able to find someone to play Christ ,Le Vigan suggested he take him :his Jesus was more Rasputin-like ,but it worked. Too bad the doc passes over in silence Duvivier's prophetic "le petit roi" in which he plays an anarchist who betrays his little king ,played by Duvivier's young protégé ,Robert Lynen ; the latter grew up to be a resistant fighter shot by the Nazis in WW2 ,whereas Le Vigan became a collaborator .
Actor Christophe Malavoy , a Louis-Ferdinand Celine biographer , tells that Le Vigan ,in spite of his loudmouth,was easily influenced , and let himself be led by the "voyage au bout de la nuit " author into Anti-Semitism and later on into collaboration in the Occupation days.
Pierre Very's son, Noel , intervenes and ,although still a small child at the time ,provides the doc with precious memories : three of Le VIgan's best films were based on his father's novels :"l'assassinat du père noël ","les disparus de Saint-Agil "and his final great film "Goupi Mains Rouges ".
Besides Duvivier ,Le Vigan worked with the creme de la creme of French directors :Renoir ,Carné,Pagnol ,Gance, Autant-Lara,Becker ,and more......
His lawyer pled irresponsibility ,but the price to pay at the Liberation was hard : ten years at hard labor :he was released after two years ,but all French directors turned their back on him and he flew to Argentina where he ended his life in semi-poverty and total anonymity : a doc in color was shot in his final years but never broadcast on TV : many extracts are included in this 2021 film and show a disenchanted man , who does not talk so much about his brilliant -and doomed- career.
He was par excellence the accursed actor ,who,in spite of a deplorable infamous behavior , gave to the French cinema lots of memorable moments.
