After “The Zola Affair” in 2019 and “Le matin de Sarajevo” in 2022 – this comic strip won the 2023 Contemporary History Book Prize – Jonzacais Jean-Charles Chapuzet reunites with Christophe Girard and Éditions Glénat. The writer, journalist, comic book scriptwriter and designer have signed “The Last Night of Mussolini”, a comic book set against the backdrop of fascist Italy and violence where we follow the last three days of Mussolini and his mistress on the run Clara Petacci on the banks of Lake Como.
In this documented story, we sense that the author is a doctor of history at Sciences Po Paris. “I studied quite a bit during my studies the great dictatorships of the 20the century. I came across him on the run on the shores of Lake Como, I buried that in my brain,” admits the screenwriter. When he later went to Lake Como, he saw “terribly graphic” places. He thought of Christophe Girard: “We are a real pair, I wrote the screenplay based on him. »
Hitler, fascinated by Mussolini
A year later, after having written a lot, having met the designer at literary fairs, having worked sequence by sequence… “Mussolini’s Last Night” was released on January 8 in bookstores. “I’m lucky, Christophe is a great designer, that’s what you see at first glance. His drawing is lively and fluid,” continues Jean-Charles Chapuzet.
The comic strip, against the backdrop of the run, summarizes Mussolini’s life in an aside. “It has a catastrophic relationship with violence, women, power. What is very interesting is his relationship with Hitler. Initially, Hitler was fascinated by Mussolini. And the relationship is reversed, Mussolini becomes Hitler’s valet,” describes the screenwriter. He also likes to probe the resistance fighters, communists and socialists, they are not allies, it’s “who will have Mussolini’s head”. For three days, we saw the flight of the dictator, Clara Petacci and a few faithful. “Lost for lost, it’s a cacophony, everyone takes their cliques and slaps.”
The death of Pier Paolo Pasolini
In this violence, before the end of this story worthy of commedia dell’arte, a few scenes take us to Rome, on the evening of 1is November 1975, with the poet and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini. Christophe Girard’s line becomes clearer… Until the poet’s tragic end, extreme violence red with blood in the dark night, lit by the yellow of the headlights.
In his other comic strip, “Le matin de Sarajevo”, the screenwriter mentioned the visit of Georges Pérec, in August 1957, to Sarajevo, when he wrote his first novel, “The Sarajevo Attack”. These are moments when he wants to link contemporary adventure to history, to give a breath of fresh air. Because fascism survives.
During the Angoulême International Comics Festival, the two authors will sign at the Cosmopolite bookstore, then come to Jonzac. Currently, Jean-Charles Chapuzet is working on a book, “Les Disparus de Boutiers”, and a comic book, again with Christophe Girard, “Les storms de Guernica”.
