Marie Curie, beyond the Myth

Directed by

Michel Vuillermet

Written by

Michel Vuillermet, Nathalie Huchette, Géraldine Berger

Produced by

ARTE France, Les Films d’un Jour, Institut Curie, CNRS Images

Documentary, France, 2011, 52 min

From her birth in Varsaw until she entered the Pantheon, the works and life of Marie Curie are like 
a myth. While she has been honored in the entire world and embodies a model of excellence, her 
story and her life remain unknown.

In order to celebrate this amazing woman of science, and on the occasion of her Nobel Prize 100-year anniversary in December 2011, this film proposes a portrait of Marie Curie who, at the dawn of the 20th century, participated in the revolution of physics, subverted our conception of the world and matter through her works on radioactivity. 



To draw a portrait of this outstanding scientist, the Curie Museum unveils its archives, including some unreleased materials. 

Through her diaries and correspondence, and thanks to the numerous testimonies Marie Curie left 
behind, this film aims to reveal the discreet and combative woman she used to be. We will retrace her amazing journey through the prism of her emotions and thoughts.

Debate with :

• Michel Vuillermet, director
• Hélène Langevin-Joliot, physicist, Director of Research CNRS, Emeritus
• Pierre Radvanyi, honorary research director at CNRS, former student of Frédéric Joliot-Curie