Figurehead of the Romantic movement and universally known for his colossal literary work – such as Les Misérables or The Hunchback of Notre-Dame –, Victor Hugo was also a committed politician with a revolutionary thinking.
Initially driven by royalist ideas, he then turned towards republicanism. It is after the French Revolution of 1848 that he firmly established his position as a defender of democratic values such as liberty, secularism and freedom of speech, also giving its impulse to the European construction. This shift led some to say that he had gone “from one side of the barricade to the other”. Despite all, what remains of Hugo’s beliefs today are his many visionary thoughts, carried out through his writings – whether it be the abolition of poverty and death penalty, the emancipation of women, the prohibition of child labor or the right for free education.
Combining interviews of specialists with precious archives and manuscripts, this film immerses us into the mind of Victor Hugo and sheds light on his life which embraced the upheavals of a century that definitely transformed the world.
Direction: Jacques Loeuille
Production: Point du Jour & Quad Doc, with the help of France Télévisions
To mark the 140th anniversary of his death (May 22, 1885)