Alexandre Dumas: The Other Side of the Mirror

1860. Alexandre Dumas waits for his photographer friend, Gustave Le Gray, and turns to the camera to readjust the usual portrait of him. Major figure of the French literature, Alexandre Dumas was almost never represented the way he was: a mixed-race writer whose life was marked by the destiny of his father, and animated by two passions, the Republic and History. By reconstructing one of his posing sessions, the director imagined questioning Dumas. It was an opportunity for him to capture the character off-camera and try to solve the political, artistic and intimate mysteries that surround him. By giving him back the floor, it becomes a story in progress, a living account that is being told. It is also a way of approaching questions other than through classical and unequivocal analysis. A new and direct way of hearing the voice of an extraordinary writer.