Film adaptation of Journey to the End of the Night in development

Screenwriters Joann Sfar and Thomas Bidegain are adapting Journey to the End of the Night, the revered novel by French author Louis-Ferdinand Celine, for the big screen. It is being developed by producers Alain Attal and Aton Soumache of the banners Tresor Films and Magical Society, respectively. A comic book creator, filmmaker, and illustrator, Sfar initiated the endeavour.

Also known as Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches, Celine's debut novel, Journey to the End of the Night, was published way back in 1932, and it is still a subject of study in high schools in France. Translated into 37 languages, the novel has sold more than 10 million copies across the world.

The darkly comic and semi-autobiographical literary piece charts the decades-long journey of a disenchanted anti-hero named Ferdinand Bardamu, including his adventures in French West Africa and New York. In NY, he finds employment on a Ford Motor Company assembly line before returning to his homeland, France, and turning into a doctor in an impoverished Parisian suburb.

The adaptation is set to explore the journey and existential quest of the novel's protagonist following years of war and societal misery.