A Faustian pact is sealed between a wealthy, eccentric artist and a hopeless young man on the verge of suicide. The former, eager to cause a stir, proposes to the young man that he transform him into a living work of art. After all, he has nothing to lose…except, perhaps, his freedom. Thus ensues a fantastical tale of excessive ambition and questionable ideals. Only through the love of a young woman is the Frankenstein-like art object able to flee his creator and regain his lost conscience.
In his latest morality tale, renowned author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt lampoons the world of art as well as our society’s obsession with youth, beauty, wealth and fame. Inventive, eccentric, humorous and skillfully told, Lorsque j’étais une oeuvre d’art, is a new take on an age-old myth.