Germinal (1993 film)

Germinal
Film poster
Directed byClaude Berri
Screenplay byClaude Berri
Arlette Langmann
Based onGerminal
by Émile Zola
Produced byClaude Berri
Pierre Grunstein
Bodo Scriba
StarringRenaud
Miou-Miou
Jean Carmet
Judith Henry
Jean-Roger Milo
Gérard Depardieu
CinematographyYves Angelo
Edited byHervé de Luze
Music byJean-Louis Roques
Distributed byAMLF
Release date
  • 29 September 1993 (1993-09-29) (France)
Running time
160 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget€27.4 million
Box office$36.1 million

Germinal is a 1993 French-Belgian epic film based on the 1885 novel by Émile Zola. It was directed by Claude Berri, and stars Renaud, Miou-Miou and Gérard Depardieu. At the time it was the most expensive movie ever produced in France. It was the fourth most attended film of the year in France.

It won the César Award for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design, and was nominated for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Music and Best Production Design. The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

The film, set in the nineteenth century, closely follows the plot of the novel, which is a realistic story of a coalminers' strike in northern France in the 1860s.