Children of the Century
1999 film by Diane Kurys
Children of the Century (French: Les Enfants du siècle) is a 1999 French biographical drama film co-written and directed by Diane Kurys. It is based on the tumultuous love affair between two French literary icons of the 19th century, novelist George Sand (Juliette Binoche) and poet Alfred de Musset (Benoît Magimel).
Plot summary
The story begins as George Sand leaves her marital home and arrives in Paris with her two children. Meanwhile, the young poet and dandy Alfred de Musset is busy making a name for himself both as a womaniser and a talented poet and critic. Sand and Musset first meet at a literary dinner and quickly recognise in each other a like-minded love of literature. At first their relationship remains platonic, but soon the pair embark on a tumultuous affair that will lead them to Venice and the creation of their finest works of literature.
Cast
Background and production
The film was shot on location in Paris, Nohant and Venice from August to December 1998. In an interview with The Irish Times, Kurys revealed that she was shooting in the actual rooms Sand and Musset had occupied in the Hotel Danieli, and Binoche revealed that Sand's estate had loaned the production some of her possessions including a sapphire ring and jewel-encrusted dagger. Musset's account of the affair, in his book La Confession d'un Enfant du Siècle, was Kurys' starting point for her screenplay. Binoche's attraction to the part was due to "Sand's combination of strengths and weaknesses".
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1090788. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1999 and 1998.
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This entry incorporates text from “Children of the Century” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.