"Boule de Suif" by Guy de Maupassant W/Guest Chris DePretis

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Film director & producer Chris DePretis joins Kirk to talk about the short story “Boule de Suif” by Guy de Maupassant. 

It is said that Maupassant is the most adapted literary writer after Shakespeare. Though this is hard to prove, because often his short stories offer a broad brush by which film directors like John Ford will use to paint. Nevertheless, his impact on world cinema is impressive. Besides Ford, many directors have adapted stories from the French short story writer, such as D.W. Griffith, Orson Welles, Jean Renoir, Kenji Mizoguchi, Jean-Luc Goddard and many more. These directors, of course, are the most influential directors in cinema. By proxy, very few people can claim as much influence on world cinema as Guy de Maupassant.

In this episode, we summarize and discuss one short story in particular “Boule de Suif.” Then we discuss and compare the classic western movie Stagecoach (1939) starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford.
We will be talking about the themes of both of these works as well as the way in which Ford was inspired by Maupassant.

If you are a literary lover or a film buff, this episode is for you! Great art builds on great art.