LA PEAU DE CHAGRIN: A MORE SUPERFICIAL VERSION THAN THE ORIGINAL

La Peau de Chagrin (2010) is a French film, made for television.   It is based on the novel of the same name by the writer Honoré de Balzac.  Directed by Alain Berliner, and starring by Thomas Coumans.  Original language: French.

Synopsis: 

In early 19th-century Paris, Raphael de Valentin, a self-taught man whose plans to publish his philosophical writings have failed, is on the verge of suicide. He stumbles upon an antique shop. There, the shopkeeper, an elderly man with impaired vision, offers him a strange amulet: a donkey hide that is said to grant its wearer's every wish, but shrinks in size with each granted wish, and also drains the wearer's vitality.  Despite the warning, Raphael decides to keep the talisman. His life immediately begins to change, and he acquires wealth and all manner of material pleasures. The donkey hide shrinks as his desires are fulfilled. Raphael's life is now different, spent amidst parties and gatherings. At one of these parties, he meets Fedora, a high-society woman, with whom he falls in love, but she is too proud and narcissistic, and rejects him. He then seizes upon the talisman's power to grant him a means of revenge. The hide continues to shrink, and Raphael grows increasingly weak and ill.

*******

A debate unfolds between desire and longevity, between choosing an intense but brief life or a long, moderate, and prudent existence. The magical skin represents its owner's vital energy, which is depleted with each desire. Life is an incessant and continuous desire, yet its fulfillment could lead to death. This is a paradox. On the one hand, one cannot live without desire; desire cannot be brought to a standstill.

The character of Raphael in this film seems like a superficial young man who wants to live a life of luxury and capriciously exact revenge for his past. This is not the case in the original novel, which emphasizes the struggle between desire, satisfaction, pleasure, and their consequences that lead to death. Living intensely kills.

Unlike the book, Raphael focuses more on revenge, pleasure, and clinging to life, while the book centers on the weariness and meaninglessness of materialism. The film's ending was more romantic.

On the technical side, weaknesses have been noted in the costumes and set design, with critics mentioning that the costumes look too new, which detracts from the story's naturalism.

Critics consider the ending superior to the book because it offers a more honorable and dramatic conclusion for Raphael de Valentín.

The film was accepted as an entertaining television adaptation, but it differs in tone and plot from the profound and reflective approach of Balzac's original novel, written in 1831.

In conclusion, the film adaptation wasn't faithful to the literary work; however, it's impossible to say whether it's good or bad, because public taste is subjective and it's viewed from different perspectives. Some may have a deeper understanding of the story and prefer the book.  It all depends on whether you view cinema as entertainment or as cultural enrichment. The intellectual viewer will likely criticize the film.