Grey Souls, A Grey Adaptation? Film Adaptation of a Metaphysical Detective Story: Les âmes grises by Philippe Claudel

Abstract

This article considers the value of the adaptation of the novel Les âmes grises (Claudel, 2003) to its homonymous film version (Angelo, 2005). Its starting point is a reflection on the concept of adaptation. In order to address the relevance of the enigma subgenre to which the film belongs, a brief history of the genre and the concept of fair play is presented. We analyze four shots in detail from the point of view of the poetics of cinema to explain their implications as an invention of the film or as an iconic translation of the story. This essay reflects on the importance of the narrator's own name in the adaptation and, finally, considers the case that seems most significant to us, the transposition of genres.