Note d’intention de Sergio GOBBI concernant L’AFFAIRE-631

In my lifetime, I have frequented all kinds of men and women in some very strange worlds, including that of gambling. Paul, the hero of L’Affaire is the amalgam of several people whom I have met. He has the appearance of "X", the psychological make-up of "Y" and the inner rift of "Z" for nowhere do such fleeting friendships, such strange and irrational feelings arise and vanish as in the closed world of poker players. The game is a form of therapy that reveals to the most talented the weaknesses of others. A look, a gesture, a word of trust and you become the friend, the brother or the executioner dealing the deathblow.

Paul Haslans, a fictional character, has had success in business, the excitement of impossible challenges, the subtle pleasure of confronting dangerous worlds, then confusion, pain and prison. But, like the Count of Monte-Cristo, he will arise from his ashes stronger than before. The most fascinating thing about Paul Haslans is the contract that he has signed with his own loneliness. It has become the most faithful of mistresses; he knows that he will never be disappointed in loneliness.

What fascinated me in writing L’Affaire is Paul Haslans’ voluntary marginalization on his release from prison. After being one of the leading lights of the business world in his youth, he no longer has the strength to return to the spotlight of the business world after his problems and chooses the artifical light of the gaming tables until the day that he learns of the injustice that he has been subjected to. Then, he recovers his strength, recovers the urge to win and, like Machiavelli, weaves a subtle web to win back his empire.