Building on the success of Simone, the journey of the century and its 2.5 million viewers last year, French actress Elsa Zylberstein announced Sunday in the columns of Variety that a new biopic was in preparation. And it is the turn of the life of the great couturier Christian Dior to be staged. “It’s a universe that I know well because I grew up there,” says the actress, whose mother worked for Dior perfumes in the 1970s.
“Christian Dior was a very secretive man,” she says. We know very little about him. He was not a flamboyant character like other great fashion designers or icons of popular culture, but he remains fascinating nonetheless. The plot of the film should begin in the aftermath of the Second World War, in 1947, when Dior forged the empire that today bears his name.
But beyond the fashion world, the biopic written by Julien Teisseire (Heart Plan on Netflix) intends to focus on the relationship between the great couturier and his lover Jacques Benita, as well as with his right arm Raymonde Zehnacker, embodied in screen by Elsa Zylberstein. “We like to say that behind every successful man is a woman. This applies to Dior too,” says the actress and producer.
“Christian was Mr. Everybody, she abounds. He was not Parisian, he came from Normandy. He was always discreet but also showed a lot of resilience. That’s why his legacy lives on.” For now, the rest of the cast, just like the title of the film, is not yet known.
Currently at the Venice Film Festival, Elsa Zylberstein is part of the jury for the brand new Impact Prize. The award will honor a film, from the official selection, “conducive to unleashing human potential and having a constructive impact on society”, according to the organizers. The French actress will then fly to the United States reports Variety, where the film Simone has just been distributed.
