Joann Sfar, Thomas Bidegain to Adapt ‘Journey to the End of the Night’

“Journey to the End of the Night,” a literary masterpiece penned by controversial French author Louis-Ferdinand Céline, is being adapted for the big screen by Joann Sfar (“The Rabbi’s Cat,” “Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life”) and Thomas Bidegain (“A Prophet,” “Emilia Perez”).

Well-established producers Aton Soumache (“The Little Prince”) and Alain Attal (“Beating Hearts”) are developing the project through their respective banners, Magical Society (jointly led with Sfar) and Tresor Films.

The adaptation endeavor was initiated by Sfar, a Jewish comicbook artist, illustrator, thinker and filmmaker whose body of work has promoted tolerance and combatted all forms of racism through words and images.

Published in 1932, “Journey to the End of the Night” was the first novel written by Céline, whose real name was Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches. Céline, who fled to Germany in 1944 and died in 1961 after living for many years in self-imposed exile in Denmark, remains a polarizing figure due to his antisemitic views and pamphlets that promoted the Nazi ideology during the Second World War. Céline is nevertheless considered one of France’s literary giants and “Journey to the End of the Night” continues to be studied in high schools. Translated into 37 languages, “Journey to the End of the Night” has sold 10 million copies worldwide.

The book is a darkly comic semi-autobiographical work following the journey of disillusioned anti-hero Ferdinand Bardamu across decades. The book charts Bardamu’s adventures, from World War I to French West Africa and New York, where he finds work on an assembly line at Ford Motor Company before moving back to France and becoming a doctor in a poor Paris suburb.

Sfar and Bidegain’s adaptation will explore the protagonist’s inner journey and dark existential quest in the wake of war and social misery.

“I read ‘Journey’ when I was 15, and it’s one of those masterpieces that shaped me; I read it without knowing anything about Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and you can imagine how that complicated my life later on. I can’t unlearn this book,” Sfar says.

“‘Journey to the End of the Night’ is a key to understanding French society, including its darkest and most revolting aspects,” Sfar continues. “I’ve been circling an audiovisual adaptation of this novel for 15 years, and it was the recent meeting with Thomas Bidegain that sparked everything.”

He says Bidegain is his favorite screenwriter because they share the “same tastes, the same laughter, and the same dislikes.” Sfar says he’s “always worked on symbols that unite or divide French society—Gainsbourg, Saint-Ex, Japrisot;” and with this adaptation of Céline, he’s reached a “point of maximum tension.” “That’s where we need to dig,” says Sfar.

Bidegain says the novel “remains a relevant key to understanding our times.” “The list is long of those who have grappled with Bardamu’s adventures, his desperate humor, his clinical insight, the novel’s impossible picaresque structure, the unwieldy figure of its author, and the Himalaya of Céline’s language,” says Bidegain, whose recent screenwriting credits include Jacques Audiard’s Cannes prizewinning musical thriller “Emilia Perez.”

“It took a giant like Joann for this project to come to life. Our joyful meeting swept away any doubts — our shared desire for cinema, to create images and meaning, our irreverent fascination with this great work… And here we are, hard at work, full of enthusiasm,” Bidegain continues.

Soumache and Attal, who are also both Jewish, said in a joint statement that the project to adapt Celine’s novel felt like an “immense responsibility, but also an unprecedented creative adventure.”

“Alongside Joann Sfar and Thomas Bidegain, we have the ambition to translate this literary masterpiece onto the screen with all its power, depth, and complexity,” they added.

The pair said they have “gathered an exceptional artistic team to capture the tormented and masterful essence of Céline’s work.” They also suggested they will take some liberty with the novel to deliver a “cinematic reinterpretation of Bardamu’s existential and tragic journey,” which will showcase Sfar and Bidegain’s “unique and singular vision that will resonate with a wide audience.”