What triggered it ...

What triggered it ....

I remember when I was a kid.

I had about 6 years old when I saw what would change my life forever.

It was a movie called “le Bossu” with French actors Jean Marrais and Bourvil. These two were really great French actors of their time but that movie really awakened something within me.

I suddenly wanted to be all these heroes I saw on screen. And of course the only way to do it was to become an actor.

Le bossu was an adaptation of the Novel from the same name written by Paul Feval released in 1858. The success of what was originally written to be a stage play quickly became one of the most famous success in French literature. Something said to be “d’un genre nouveau”

All elements were displayed in this story:

-          A renegade Hero called “Henri de Lagardère”

-          His wing man “Passepoil”

-          An evil conspirator called “Philippe de Gonzague »

-          And of course a lot about Honour and Love.

Philippe de Gonzague was conspiring in every possible way to become one the most powerful men in France. Some claims he wanted to access the Throne. To do so he had to marry Isabelle de Caylus but unfortunately for him, his best friend, the Duke Philippe de Nevers, married her in secret over a year ago. They had to keep secrecy due to the profound hatred between their two families (Yes sounds like Romeo & Juliette) Discovering this, Philippe de Gonzague offered to assist his so called best friend to escape because as a matter of fact, the King had plan for the Duke de Nevers to marry him with someone else. Ergo the secrecy of their wedding would have been discovered and the Duke de Nevers probably executed. Philippe de Nevers accepted his friend’s offer and trusted him, never suspecting that this one was planning on murdering him.

A young knight called Henri de Lagardère found out about the plot and fought alongside Philippe de Nevers attemped to save his life. Outnumbered and attacked from behing Philippe de Nevers was killed but Henri managed to escape carrying away the child born from the Union between Philippe and Isabelle.

From there a pursuit started because of course, this child was a threat to Gonzague’s plans. Henri and his wing-man Passepoil escaped to spain and stayed there until the child “Aurore de Nevers” grew up. When the time was right, Henri, Passepoil and Aurore returned to France to reveal the truth and avenge Phillippe de Nevers’s death.

In order to infiltrate the society, Henri decided to go under a subtle disguise “Le Bossu” (Humpback). Although his appearance was poor, le Bussu got quite fast appreciated because he brought what all men would kill for, “Money”. Engineering a malicious plan, Henri had set a trap to Gonzague and manage to confront him in front of the authority of “Philippe d'Orléans, le régent » who was ruling France waiting for the new king to reach his majority. Philippe d'Orléans, le régent said the will of god would determine their fate and he gave his sword to Henri who fought Gonzague in an ultimate duel.

                                         ****

Guys really, this was one of the most amazing stuff I had seen when I was 6