Wednesday October 20, France 2 broadcasts the first two episodes of In the Shadow, adapted from the eponymous novel by Edouard Philippe and Gilles Boyer. Faithful adaptation or major overhaul, we tell you everything.
Wednesday October 30, France 2 offers the first two episodes of In the shadows, the fiction adapted from the eponymous novel by Edouard Philippe and Gilles Boyer, published in 2011. An adaptation in which the former prime minister and his advisor participated under the leadership of Pierre Schoeller, who also directed the six episodes of this embodied political thriller by Swann Arlaud, Melvil Poupaud and Karin Viard. Here are some notable differences between the book and the France 2 event miniseries.
In the shadows: Why set the series in a right-wing political party? Pierre Schoeller’s response
And In the shadows is taken from the novel by Édouard Philippe and his advisor Gilles Boyer published in 2011, “a lot of adaptation work” was necessary, explains Pierre Schoeller (The Exercise of the State), the director of the fiction, who wrote the screenplay in collaboration with the authors. “Firstly because the book was not designed as a series. Secondly, because in fifteen years, political life has evolved a lot.” The idea, for example, of placing the campaign on the right, is his. “It was not specified in the book and showing a political landscape little explored in fiction was one of my conditions. I found interesting the questions of loyalty, devotion, persuasion within a family which has the culture of the leader .”
In the shadows : Other differences between the book and the series
Among the other notable differences between the novel and the series is undoubtedly the character of Paul Francoeur, played by Melvil Poupaud, who is in a wheelchair, “to create a political figure that we did not know”, specifies Pierre Schoeller, and the names of the characters, such as that of the faithful advisor, which was also not specified in the book. The director also had fun slipping in a few welcome references here and there, such as the name of Francoeur’s autonomous car or even that of César’s cat (Swann Arlaud), which refers to a famous French film.
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