Marie Curie's Audiovisual Fiction: Beyond the Scientific Divulgation

Marie Curie is one of the most relevant figures not only in the scientific field, but also historically for many different reasons. This has led to her life being portrayed in film and television for decades, focusing on one or other aspects. Thus, the aim of this research is to find out how Marie Curie has been portrayed in audiovisual fiction, which facets of her life each of these productions have focused on and, finally, how they have dealt with the different roles (professional, marital and maternal). Twelve audiovisual productions were selected in which fiction is used to a greater or lesser extent to recreate the career of this scientist, divided into four themes: childhood, scientific work, marriage and personal life (Langevin, war and daughters). The study of these fields within each of the films, series and documentaries that make up the exhibition reveals interesting divergences between the person and character of Marie Curie. At the same time, different approaches can be observed depending on the target audience and the context in which these productions have been made. Moreover, few have dealt with her childhood, and the most recent productions are the most complete and the ones that have dealt most with her personal life. It can be concluded that the figure of Curie and her heterogeneous aspects have been well exploited by most of the films analyzed to go beyond the dissemination of her scientific work and to praise her, in many cases, as a symbol of progress in each historical period depicted and even in the present day.