PARIS (EJP)--- In his recently released autobiography “On the side of the living” director, screenwriter and producer Serge Moati makes a comeback and returns to his Tunisian childhood.

After a heart attack and a nervous breakdown, Moati realised that he needed to confront his relationship with death. To do this, he looked back on his life and sought to understand who he is.

“I’m an orphan and the problem is that nobody can tell me the story of my family. So, I had to make up a personal story,” Moati, who is also a journalist, writes. “This return to my homeland can perhaps offer a means of healing.”

The book starts in Tunis in the 1940s, where a little boy called Henry lives happily with his parents, Serge and Odette, his sister Nine and his brother Vivi in a beautiful villa.

Then tragedy hits the family. Disease takes his parents and 11-year-old Henry is left disabled, torn between sadness and anger towards his parents who deserted him.

After falling into a deep hole, he decides that Serge Moati didn’t die and proves it by taking on his father’s name.

Now, more than half a century after his parents’ death, Tunisian independence and the Jewish exile, the scent of the jasmines that grew over the veranda of his family villa continues to haunt Moati.

Tragic life journey

In his book he uses humour, derision and nostalgia, to paint a picture of 1950s Tunisia. Through a very lively autobiographical account, he recalls the events which led Tunisia to independence and the Jews to exile.

“I always miss Tunis. It offers me memories of a life that I lost at the age of 11.”

For the time being, Henry is waiting to join his parents. “I’m alive and I say to them: ‘Everyone has his own life, I will join you later. Be patient.’”

Reconciled with himself, he asserts his lust for life. “Don’t we say, at Yom Kippur, “Place me on the side of the living”?

This moving book that was written as “the only solution for grief” is also a precious testimony. With his tragic and colourful life journey, Moati has chosen the side of life.

« Du côté des vivants » by Serge Moati, Editions Fayard