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...

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Cast

Jacques Deshayes

Narrator (voice)

Stéphane Thomas

Madame Desbassayns

David Erudel

Henri Paulin Panon Desbassayns

Ophélie Galant

Young Madame Debassayns

Kristof Langromme

Slave Neptune

Eric Lauret

Julien Gonneau Montbrun (father)

Muriel Benard

Marie-Thérèse L. des Sablons (mother)

Francis Convert

Abbé Macquet

Mickaël Fontaine

Cavalier Desbassayns

Fabrice Saubert

Housing Manager