Madame Desbassayns: Myth and Reality of an Icon of Slavery

Overview

The life of Mrs. Desbassayns is exceptional in more than one way in the history of slavery on the island of Réunion. Married at the age of 15 to the forty-year-old Henri-Paulin Panon Desbassayns, this young Creole woman named Hombeline Gonneau immediately embarked on an extraordinary journey. She found herself, in fact, at the head of the most powerful landowning family...

Directed by William Cally

Top cast

J

Jacques Deshayes

Narrator (voice)

S

Stéphane Thomas

Madame Desbassayns

D

David Erudel

Henri Paulin Panon Desbassayns

O

Ophélie Galant

Young Madame Debassayns

K

Kristof Langromme

Slave Neptune

E

Eric Lauret

Julien Gonneau Montbrun (father)

M

Muriel Benard

Marie-Thérèse L. des Sablons (mother)

Francis Convert

Abbé Macquet

M

Mickaël Fontaine

Cavalier Desbassayns

F

Fabrice Saubert

Housing Manager

T

Teddy Lebon

Charles Desbassayns

F

Fabrice Payet

Joseph Desbassayns

B

Basile Chevalier

"Montbrun" Desbassayns

M

Marcelino Rivière

Julien Augustin Desbassayns

B

Benjamin Palomé

Chemist Wetzell

E

Evelyne Robert

Servant Marie-Barbe

A

Arielle Belus

Slave Honorine

M

Marie-Dolaine Guichard

Nénène Madeline

D

Dina Dianore

Young Nénène Madeline

Details