La revanche du gredin ? Les deux versions anglophones de Bel-Ami (The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, Albert Lewin, 1947, et Bel Ami, Declan Donnellan & Nick Ormerod, 2012)

Maupassant’s work has often been adapted for a variety of genres and aesthetics. The adaptation of Bel-Ami by Albert Lewin must accept censorship but expresses the personal approach of the director; the 2012 version, despite its faithfulness to the text, is less successful. This comparative study considers the different contexts of production and intertexts summoned by the characters that the actors play. This is done in order to study how such a melodramatic fable tends toward satire steeped in tragedy.