|
 |
|
| |
Navarro, Bentch, Gonzales and Los Angeles in Morocco |
|
|
| |
|
| 09/12/2010 |
|
|
|
Tito Topin is in Courmayeur in the dual role of jury member and author, to present his latest novel, Photo finish. He says the book “tells the story of a generation of Moroccans who are forced to leave their country. I went to Brazil. It was a generation formed in the Diaspora.”
This is not Topin’s first time writing about Morocco and Casablanca. His characters include Commissioners Bentch, Emile Gonzales and the most well known of them all, Navarro – the main character of 18 successful season on French TV, played by Roger Hanin. “When I was told he was chosen to play Navarro, I was a little puzzled,” admits Topin. “I didn’t want the character to be seen as a Pied Noir, which is why from the very beginning I only called Navarro by his last name. But then I really liked him, he’s a solid actor, and if it were up to me I would’ve have kept on writing the series. Finding new stories wasn’t difficult; society is constantly giving you new ideas. When I began you didn’t speak about rape or pedophilia, the cases were all about organized crime. It was society’s evolution that made us change our stories.”
“I love recurring characters,” continues Topin, “they remind me of the 19th century feuilleton, and I love coming back to characters over time. Plus I love police officers; I like how they are in contact with the real world because they experience terrible situations.”
Photo finish, however, doesn’t fall into any of these series. “It is the story of a woman over 50 who out of fear of losing her memory returns home to reconstruct the story of the only man she ever loved.” Like his character, Topin abandoned Morocco in the 1950s for France, where he began working in advertising. He wrote his first book at the age of 50. “I needed half a century to write my first novel,” he says. “I like American writers such as Jim Thompson and William Faulkner, and I’ve always thought of Casablanca as a sort of Los Angeles. Casablanca is an ideal place to set a noir: you have sunshine, convertible cars, beautiful women… Like in Photo finish, which takes place at a time in which all emotions were much stronger, a time when none of thought we could have a future.”
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
