First look at “The Hunchback, Soul of Paris”: Vincent Cassel transforms into Netflix’s “Quasimodo”; Jean-François Richet’s historical thriller arrives November 27

Netflix has unveiled the first images of its new historical film, “The Hunchback, Soul of Paris” (original French title “Quasimodo, l’âme de Paris”), starring Vincent Cassel in the lead role. The images were first published exclusively by Vanity Fair France and then reported in the English press, as Hypebeast reports, sparking great interest in one of the platform’s most ambitious European projects this year.

The direction has been entrusted to Jean-François Richet, in a reunion with Cassel after their collaborations on “Mesrine” and “L’Empereur de Paris.” The screenplay bears the signatures of Éric Besnard and Edgar Marie. Alongside Cassel, who embodies the film’s central figure, star Benjamin Voisin — as a doctor seeking to capture the protagonist for medical experiments in search of a cure for cholera — and Karim Leklou, in the role of the Security Director leading his pursuit. The cast is also joined by Daphnée Patakia, Noémie Lvovsky, Sébastien Pouderoux, Eli Nachmani, and Alexis Rosenstiehl.

The story unfolds in the Paris of 1830, on the eve of the July Revolution, when the cholera epidemic and political unrest have plunged the city into chaos. The protagonist finds himself caught between political pressure, an impossible love, and those who want to turn him into a subject of experiments. The premise is based on archivist Adrian Glew’s theory, according to which Victor Hugo may have met a hunched stonemason who partly inspired the figure of Quasimodo — an idea Richet himself has called “a plausible starting point, not a confirmed story.”

The production emphasizes that the film is not a direct adaptation of Victor Hugo’s “Notre-Dame de Paris,” but a realistic historical thriller — not gothic-fantastic and not a musical — focused on disease, class tensions, and a relentless pursuit. Netflix releases “The Hunchback, Soul of Paris” globally on November 27, 2026.