After Edith Piaf with The kid and Grace of Monaco, Simone, the trip of the century is Oliver Dahan’s third biopic. The director looks back on the extraordinary career of Simone Veil, with Elsa Zylberstein in the title role and Rebecca Marder who embodies the woman in her younger years.
This is not the most famous episode in the life of Simone Veil. But the one who will become the symbol of the fight for women’s rights came to spend her holidays in La Ciotat as a child. Happy family moments, before the deportation, evoked in the film with scenes shot on the spot. Hence the preview screening of the film in the town of Bouches-du-Rhône. Olivier Dahan, who was also born and lived in La Ciotat, did not hesitate.
Simone, the trip of the century looks back on the main moments of his life. “There is the intimate woman, the woman who makes speeches. Interesting facets to approach”, says actress Elsa Zylberstein who plays Simone Veil in the film. An exceptional destiny punctuated by tragedies and political fights.
Jewish, she was deported at the age of 16 with her family to Auschwitz during the Second World War. The young girl and her two sisters come back alive from the death camps. This is not the case with their parents and their brother. “She is truly a survivor. He is someone who has died several times but who has chosen life. Which model !”, testifies admiringly Elsa Zylberstein.
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After studying law and a career in the judiciary, at the age of 47, Simone Veil was appointed Minister of Health in 1974. A few months later, she defends tooth and nail the bill which authorizes abortion. Despite heated debates before the National Assembly and virulent attacks from deputies, she held firm. The law which frames the decriminalization of abortion was adopted in 1975. It is also at the origin of the law on free and free contraception in family planning centres.
In 1979, she was the first woman to be appointed head of the European Parliament. It will actively participate in the reconstruction of Europe. “She represents a part of the history of the 20th century, often tragic” analyzes Olivier Dahan. Simone Veil is a symbol of the fights of the last century and an example for many women of yesterday and today. Died in 2017, she has been resting since 2018, with her husband Antoine, at the Panthéon.
“Simone, the journey of the century”, film by Olivier Dahan with Elsa Zylberstein, Rebecca Marder, Elodie Bouchez – National release on October 12, 2022