Catherine (1986 TV series)

Catherine, il suffit d'un amour was a French television series with a mix of historical romance, drama and soap opera, produced by Antenne 2 (later France 2) from 19 March to 11 June 1986. It consisted of 60 episodes which ran for 26 minutes. The series was based on the seven Catherine novels written by the best-selling author Juliette Benzoni. The adaptation stayed more or less true to the original text of Benzoni's story about Catherine[1] and her adventures in the Kingdom of France during the 15th century of the Middle Ages era.

This article is about the television series Catherine. For the novels, see Catherine (Benzoni novel).
Catherine
GenreHistorical romance
Historical fiction
Drama
Soap opera
Based onCatherine, il suffit d'un amour by Juliette Benzoni
Screenplay byJuliette Benzoni
Jean Chatenet
Directed byMarion Sarraut
StarringSee cast below
Narrated byBernard Dhéran
Music byRobert Viger
(Éditions des Alouettes)
Country of originFrance
Original language(s)French
No. of episodes60 (TV version)
30 (DVD version)
Production
Producer(s)Henri Spade
Catherine Jurquet
(production assistant)
Running time26 minutes (TV version)
52 minutes (DVD version)
Production company(s)SFP
Release
Original networkAntenne 2
Picture format4:3
Original release19 March –
11 June 1986

The screenplay was written by Benzoni with Jean Chatenet, and directed by Marion Sarraut, who had already successfully directed another of Benzoni's best-selling novel series Marianne with Corinne Touzet in the leading role.

Plot summary

The story takes place at the time of the Hundred Years' War in the Kingdom of France, during the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War. John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, is locked in a bitter merciless struggle against the Armagnacs, supporters of the future King Charles VII. On 27 April 1413 during the Parisian riots, Catherine Legoix, 13-year-old daughter of a goldsmith living on the Pont-au-Change, tries to save a young Armagnac knight, the 16-year old Michel de Montsalvy who is condemned to be hanged for spitting at Duke John and calling him a traitor.

Catherine hides him in the family's cellar, but he and her father are murdered by a cousin, the wealthy butcher Thomas Legoix. Catherine and her mother flee to Dijon to the home of her maternal uncle Mathieu Gautherin, a merchant and winegrower. They are accompanied by Sara the Black, a young gypsy who had previously hidden the fugitives in the cour des miracles house of the beggar Barnaby of the Cockleshell. The attempt to saving Michel de Montsalvy that changes her life forever. Years later, at the age of 21, she is a rare beauty, with long golden hair and huge violet eyes. Catherine meets a wounded knight, the noble Arnaud de Montsalvy, who is one of Joan of Arc's captains, and the late Michel de Montsalvy's younger brother.

Catherine and Arnaud fall in love at first sight, but when Arnaud finds out that Catherine is related to the family who butchered his older brother, he tells her that he refrains from killing her, only because she is a woman. Her outstanding beauty attracts the attention of Duke Philip the Good who desires her and orders his treasurer Garin de Brazey to marry Catherine so she can be received at court, despite her low birth. As Catherine believes Arnaud is about to marry Isabelle de Sévérac, she becomes the mistress of the powerful Duke, and he showers her with titles, castles, jewellery, and servants. She becomes the most beloved favourite at his courts in Dijon and Bruges, where she meets important figures such as Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, Jean Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy, Gilles de Rais, Jacques Cœur, and Yolande d'Aragon.

After their four-year-old son Philippe de Brazey dies, she discovers Arnaud de Montsalvy never married. Never having been able to forget her hopeless passion for the proud knight, she travels to the beleaguered city of Orléans where Arnaud and the other captains of Joan of Arc are fighting against the English. During her stay in Orléans she meets Joan of Arc who saves her life, after Catherine has been condemned to death for treason and spying for the enemy.

The road to happiness for the heroine is arduous. She must undergo many adventures; men fall desperately in love with her, her whole life is constantly in danger, she is hunted down like a criminal and condemned to die more than once. Finally, she becomes the beloved wife of Arnaud de Montsalvy, Lord of the Châtaignerie in Auvergne and a captain in the service of King Charles VII.

Cast

Main characters

Supporting characters

Production

The television series was a co-production between Antenne 2 (succeeded by France 2) and SFP. The producer of the series was Henri Spade, who followed the success of the Marianne series which aired on 21 November 1983, justified the new project Catherine, il suffit d'un amour.

Conception and development

In the press review in 1983 for Marianne, une étoile pour Napoléon, Benzoni writes: "Thanks go to Marion Sarraut, director after my heart... provided with a heart, sensibility and talent, a great artistic sense and an astonishingly safe flair to choose interpreters".

In the weekly television listings magazine Télé Star said: "I do not want a director other than Marion".[2] Marion Sarraut and Juliette Benzoni had a great admiration both for each other as well as Jean Chatenet, wrote the screenplay. Filming began in 1985 of Catherine, il suffit d'un amour, after only two years of preparation by director Marion Sarraut. The production had a total of 200 actors, 1,500 costumes, 45 technicians and 130 horses.

The horses were trained by Mario Luraschi, horse trainer and stuntman both for French and international cinema.

Casting

For the male leading role, Marion Sarraut said for an article in November 1985[3] that Pierre-Marie Escourrou did not correspond at first to the idea of the personality she had in mind - however after his audition she knew that she had found the perfect Arnaud de Montsalvy. The yet unknown young actress Claudine Ancelot was the perfect Catherine de Montsalvy.

As a special bonus, popular French actors and actresses were engaged to play cameo roles in Catherine, the cast was joined by Geneviève Casile of the Comédie-Française, Jean-François Poron, Philippe Clay, Pascale Petit and Dora Doll.

Filming

The shooting of the television series has finally lasted for 15 months. The indoor scenes were shot at the Buttes-Chaumont SFP studios in Paris, and the outdoor scenes were filmed on location in Burgundy, Chaumont, Blois, Auvergne, Château de Sully-sur-Loire, Villefranche-de-Conflent, and Le prieuré de Marcevol. The oldest quarters of the city at Castelnou in the Pyrenees served as Montsalvy, the home of Catherine and Arnaud. Scenes set at the Alhambra in Granada were shot at the castle of the Kings of Majorca in Perpignan.

Music

The music was composed by Robert Viger,[4] who had already composed several soundtracks such as Les Amours romantiques[5] for a French television series. Viger also composed already the television soundtrack for the successful Marianne back in 1983. Juliette Benzoni's Marianne, une étoile pour Napoléon (six books) was the first of the novel series filmed for French television.

Critical reception

On 19 March 1986, Catherine, il suffit d'un amour was proclaimed "the largest soap opera ever created in France", it was broadcast at 13:30 CET each afternoon during the week. Several critics praised the lavish scale of the production, comparing it to popular American television soaps such as Dynasty and Dallas.

The daily newspaper Le Monde wrote: "Un soap opera? Certes! Mais realise avec panache. Il est patent que les acteurs s’y sont vraiment eclates. Et c’est contagieux... pourquoi pas?"[1] (English translation: An soap opera? Certainly! But with panache. It is clear that the actors really go for broke. And it's contagious… why not?)

In Poland, the 1986 television series was shown on TVP1 from 2 April to 9 July 1989, also known as the Polish title Katarzyna, with a total of 15 episodes and ran about approximately 90 minutes each.

Home media

In December 2007, the French book sales club France Loisirs released the entire series on DVD with the complete collection consists of five boxes in ten discs. For the covers of the DVD boxes, they used images from the 1986 television series, but there were no English subtitles and no special features or extras were also included.

Eventually, the DVD version of a television series is originally consisting of 60 episodes and ran for 26 minutes, was reduced into a total of 30 episodes which extends to 52 minutes as well.

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See also

References
  1. Woodrow, Alain (18 March 1986). "Il etait une fois" [Once upon a time]. Le Monde (in French). Paris.
  2. Bovet, Henri (15 March 1986). ""Catherine", le XVe siècle en feuilleton fleuve sur Antenne 2" ["Catherine", the 15th century in serial drama on Antenne 2]. Télé Star (in French). Paris.
  3. Merle, Pierre (November 1985). "Catherine, il suffit d'un amour: 24 heures pour A2" [Catherine, one love is enough: 24 hours for A2]. Télé Journal (in French). Paris.
  4. Robert Viger, composer of Catherine tv-soundtrack
  5. Les amours romantiques, Music by Robert Viger
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