Olivier Assayas on the Books That Shaped His Political Vision

Filmmaker Olivier Assayas discusses the literary influences behind his political coming-of-age, ahead of the release of his new film "The Wizard of the Kremlin," an adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli's 2022 novel. The film, opening Friday, stars Paul Dano as fictional Putin adviser Vadim Baranov and Jude Law as Vladimir Putin. Assayas cites Guy Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle" as foundational, noting its critique of consumer society and media systems, and credits Debord's aesthetics and philosophy for shaping his worldview. He also recommends Klaus Mann's "The Turning Point," an autobiography of the exiled writer and Thomas Mann's son, which analyzes the dissolution of Weimar Germany. Varlam Shalamov's "Kolyma Stories," based on the author's seventeen years in Soviet labor camps, is praised for its poetic depiction of political consequences. Svetlana Alexievich's "Voices from Chernobyl" is highlighted as an oral history of the disaster and its human cost, which Assayas calls a profound work on failed politics and Ukrainian suffering.