Danton (1983 film)
Encyclopedia
Danton is a 1983 French language
film depicting the last months of Georges Danton
, one of the leaders of the French Revolution
. It is an adaptation of the Polish
play The Danton Case by Stanislawa Przybyszewska
.
The film stars Gérard Depardieu
in the title role with Anne Alvaro
as Eleonore Duplay
. It was directed by the Polish director Andrzej Wajda
and was an international co-production
between companies in France
, Poland
and West Germany
. All supporters of Danton (with the exception of Bourdon) are played by French actors, while Robespierre's allies are played by Poles. The film draws parallels between the Reign of Terror
after the French Revolution and the situation in contemporary Poland, in which the Solidarity movement was struggling against the oppression of the Soviet-backed Polish government.
All the while that the shop is being ruined, Robespierre is having his wig fluffed, his powder applied, and shaved. Robespierre’s friend Saint-Just comes in, and urges him to have Danton guillotined, but Robespierre resists. Later, when Robespierre meets with the other members of the Committee of Public Safety, they push the same point. Robespierre resists for multiple reasons: 1, if Danton were to be executed, the bourgeoisie would turn against Robespierre. 2, Danton is loved by the common man, for his works and triumphs such as when he removed the monarchy from power on August 10, the Champ de Mars Massacre, and his newspaper is read by the common people. 3, Danton is a friend and old colleague of Robespierre, and doesn’t want to execute him. Before the National Convention commences for the day, Danton’s supporters warn him that Robespierre is planning on having him jailed. Danton, however, is positive that his newspaper and the support of the people will prevent anything like that from ever happening. All of his supporters urge him to strike now and take power, but he resists. That day, at the convention, one of Danton’s supporters, Bourdon, makes a speech against Heron and his secret police (a central part of Robespierre’s regime), and has Heron jailed and executed.
That night, Danton and Robespierre have dinner together. Danton puts much work into setting the meal, but Robespierre refuses to drink or eat. Then, their discussion begins. Robespierre wants Danton to join his cause and stop fighting because he does not want to be forced to have Danton executed. Danton simply drinks until he passes out, and refuses Robespierre’s advances. Next, Robespierre goes to Camille Desmoulin’s house, where Camille entirely ignores Robespierre. Robespierre tries to convince Camille that Danton is exploiting him, but he is again ignored. His wife begs Robespierre to stay and talk sense into her husband because she wants him to live, but Robespierre can do nothing. With no other options, Robespierre has Lacrois, Phillipeaux, Desmoulins, Danton and other supporters arrested and jailed in the Luxembourg jail, after having the warrant signed by the Committee of Public Safety. Although Danton has the power to raise up a force and resist, he doesn’t because he does not want any more bloodshed. The man who arrests Danton is scared of him, and Danton has to practically drag him along.
While Danton waits in custody, Robespierre plans out his trial. Only seven jurors are to be used, which is against the law, but Robespierre can only ensure seven men who will find Danton guilty. Danton has given up on the Revolution and on the people. At the trial, Danton consistently breaks the order by speaking out of turn. The people are still in support of him, and the head of the trial feels bad about murdering this innocent man. “I’m not your executioner!” he says to Robespierre, who replies “You’re the public’s executioner.” After a few days of injustice, a decree is issued that if anyone speaks out of turn again, which Danton has done repeatedly, they will be thrown out of the court. Within minutes, the entire accused team has been thrown out, and the verdict of guilty is read. The day before his execution, Danton is depressed. Not due to his death, but due to the fact that he feels that he failed the people. “Without me, everything will fall” he says to himself. As each of their hair is cut, they all hang their heads, not only exposing their neck, as if to be chopped off, but also in an air of defeat. When Robespierre finally hears of Danton’s death, he turns ghostly pale, and realizes how he has violated liberty, and the goals of the revolution. His mistress’s nephew, now fully practiced, is finally sent in to recite. As he reads off the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, Robespierre is fully brought to the reality of what he has done.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
film depicting the last months of Georges Danton
Georges Danton
Georges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the...
, one of the leaders of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. It is an adaptation of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
play The Danton Case by Stanislawa Przybyszewska
Stanislawa Przybyszewska
Stanisława Przybyszewska was a Polish dramatist who wrote almost exclusively about the French Revolution. Her play The Danton Case, which examines the conflict between Maximilien Robespierre and Georges Danton, is considered to be one of the most exemplary liary works about the Revolution, and was...
.
The film stars Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
in the title role with Anne Alvaro
Anne Alvaro
Anne Alvaro is a French actress whose work spans from the early 1970s through 2006. She is best known for her role as Eleonore in the 1983 biopic Danton. She also appeared in The Taste of Others, for which she won a César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 2001...
as Eleonore Duplay
Éléonore Duplay
Éléonore Duplay , called Cornélie, after Cornelia Africana of Ancient Rome, was the daughter of Maurice Duplay, a master carpenter, and Françoise-Éléonore Vaugeois. She was the eldest of five children and was born in 1768, two years after her parents' marriage, in Paris, where she would live all...
. It was directed by the Polish director Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is possibly the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School"...
and was an international co-production
International co-production
An international co-production is a production where two or more different production companies are working together, for example in a film production...
between companies in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. All supporters of Danton (with the exception of Bourdon) are played by French actors, while Robespierre's allies are played by Poles. The film draws parallels between the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
after the French Revolution and the situation in contemporary Poland, in which the Solidarity movement was struggling against the oppression of the Soviet-backed Polish government.
Plot
The movie Danton opens in the spring of 1794, when the Reign of Terror was in full swing. On the borders of Paris, any vehicles entering Paris, including Danton, who has just ridden in, are being searched. As he rides through Paris, we are given grim reminders of the conditions of the Revolution: people are still cold and hungry and the shining guillotine is on display for all to see. Robespierre, on the other hand, is sick in his bed. His landlady's daughter, Eleonore Duplay, attempts to comfort him, but is unable to. Her nephew, whom she is taking care of, is meanwhile being made to memorize lines from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Back in the streets of Paris, starving lines of people, waiting for bread, discuss the possible reasons for the lack of it. Whether or not it is an enemy plot, the people do know that they are hungry, and that hunger leads to revolt. Once the bread store actually opens, and they finally begin to receive their bread, they are distracted by their other source of faith and hope in life: Danton. As Robespierre is watching, Danton is swarmed by a mob of supporters and fans, who all cry out for help. Robespierre, in his flat, observes all this as Danton’s latest publication is read out to him, and orders Danton’s printing press, and his works, to be destroyed. The reason for this is because Danton’s latest work is against the current stage of the revolution. Camille Desmoulins does his best to protect the shop, but he is ultimately defenseless against the thugs.All the while that the shop is being ruined, Robespierre is having his wig fluffed, his powder applied, and shaved. Robespierre’s friend Saint-Just comes in, and urges him to have Danton guillotined, but Robespierre resists. Later, when Robespierre meets with the other members of the Committee of Public Safety, they push the same point. Robespierre resists for multiple reasons: 1, if Danton were to be executed, the bourgeoisie would turn against Robespierre. 2, Danton is loved by the common man, for his works and triumphs such as when he removed the monarchy from power on August 10, the Champ de Mars Massacre, and his newspaper is read by the common people. 3, Danton is a friend and old colleague of Robespierre, and doesn’t want to execute him. Before the National Convention commences for the day, Danton’s supporters warn him that Robespierre is planning on having him jailed. Danton, however, is positive that his newspaper and the support of the people will prevent anything like that from ever happening. All of his supporters urge him to strike now and take power, but he resists. That day, at the convention, one of Danton’s supporters, Bourdon, makes a speech against Heron and his secret police (a central part of Robespierre’s regime), and has Heron jailed and executed.
That night, Danton and Robespierre have dinner together. Danton puts much work into setting the meal, but Robespierre refuses to drink or eat. Then, their discussion begins. Robespierre wants Danton to join his cause and stop fighting because he does not want to be forced to have Danton executed. Danton simply drinks until he passes out, and refuses Robespierre’s advances. Next, Robespierre goes to Camille Desmoulin’s house, where Camille entirely ignores Robespierre. Robespierre tries to convince Camille that Danton is exploiting him, but he is again ignored. His wife begs Robespierre to stay and talk sense into her husband because she wants him to live, but Robespierre can do nothing. With no other options, Robespierre has Lacrois, Phillipeaux, Desmoulins, Danton and other supporters arrested and jailed in the Luxembourg jail, after having the warrant signed by the Committee of Public Safety. Although Danton has the power to raise up a force and resist, he doesn’t because he does not want any more bloodshed. The man who arrests Danton is scared of him, and Danton has to practically drag him along.
While Danton waits in custody, Robespierre plans out his trial. Only seven jurors are to be used, which is against the law, but Robespierre can only ensure seven men who will find Danton guilty. Danton has given up on the Revolution and on the people. At the trial, Danton consistently breaks the order by speaking out of turn. The people are still in support of him, and the head of the trial feels bad about murdering this innocent man. “I’m not your executioner!” he says to Robespierre, who replies “You’re the public’s executioner.” After a few days of injustice, a decree is issued that if anyone speaks out of turn again, which Danton has done repeatedly, they will be thrown out of the court. Within minutes, the entire accused team has been thrown out, and the verdict of guilty is read. The day before his execution, Danton is depressed. Not due to his death, but due to the fact that he feels that he failed the people. “Without me, everything will fall” he says to himself. As each of their hair is cut, they all hang their heads, not only exposing their neck, as if to be chopped off, but also in an air of defeat. When Robespierre finally hears of Danton’s death, he turns ghostly pale, and realizes how he has violated liberty, and the goals of the revolution. His mistress’s nephew, now fully practiced, is finally sent in to recite. As he reads off the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, Robespierre is fully brought to the reality of what he has done.
Cast
- Gérard DepardieuGérard DepardieuGérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
as Georges DantonGeorges DantonGeorges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the... - Wojciech PszoniakWojciech PszoniakWojciech Pszoniak , is a Polish film and theater actor.Pszoniak gained international visibility following Andrzej Wajda's 1975 film The Promised Land, in which he played Moritz, one of the three main characters....
as Maximilien RobespierreMaximilien RobespierreMaximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his... - Anne AlvaroAnne AlvaroAnne Alvaro is a French actress whose work spans from the early 1970s through 2006. She is best known for her role as Eleonore in the 1983 biopic Danton. She also appeared in The Taste of Others, for which she won a César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 2001...
as Eleonore DuplayÉléonore DuplayÉléonore Duplay , called Cornélie, after Cornelia Africana of Ancient Rome, was the daughter of Maurice Duplay, a master carpenter, and Françoise-Éléonore Vaugeois. She was the eldest of five children and was born in 1768, two years after her parents' marriage, in Paris, where she would live all... - Roland BlancheRoland Blanche-Selected filmography:- External links :...
as Lacroix - Patrice ChéreauPatrice ChéreauPatrice Chéreau is a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor, and producer.-Biography:Patrice Chéreau was born in Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, and went to school in Paris. At a young age he became well-known to Parisian critics as director, actor, and stage manager of his high-school theatre...
as Camille DesmoulinsCamille DesmoulinsLucie Simplice Camille Benoît Desmoulins was a journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. He was a childhood friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton, who were influential figures in the French Revolution.-Early... - Emmanuelle Debever as Louison
- Krzysztof GlobiszKrzysztof GlobiszKrzysztof Globisz is a Polish theatre and film actor. His best known role is as Piotr Balicki, the newly qualified barrister whose opinion of capital punishment undergoes a radical change in A Short Film About Killing directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski.-External links:...
as Amar - Ronald GuttmanRonald GuttmanRonald Guttman is a Belgian actor, theatrical producer and film producer.Guttman was born in Uccle. He has appeared in TV shows such as Lost, Lipstick Jungle, Heroes, The West Wing, and Sex and the City. He had a recurring role as Alexander Cambias, Sr...
as Herman - Gérard Hardy as Jean-Lambert TallienJean-Lambert TallienJean-Lambert Tallien , was a French political figure of the revolutionary period.-Clerk and journalist:He was the son of the maître d'hôtel of the Marquis de Bercy, and was born in Paris. The marquis, noticing his ability, had him educated, and got him a place as a lawyer's clerk...
- Tadeusz Huk as Georges CouthonGeorges CouthonGeorges Auguste Couthon a French politician and lawyer in the French Revolution. Couthon would befriend Robespierre and serve on the Committee of Public Safety with him from 30 May 1793 until his and Robespierre’s deaths in 1794...
- Stéphane Jobert as Panis
- Marian Kociniak as Lindet
- Marek KondratMarek KondratMarek Kondrat – Polish TV, film and theatrical actor, director.In 2007 he planned to revolutionize the Polish domestic wine market by introducing Winarium wine stores in every city with a population of over 100,000.- Awards :...
as Bertrand Barère de VieuzacBertrand Barère de VieuzacBertrand Barère de Vieuzac was a French politician and journalist, one of the most notorious members of the National Convention during the French Revolution.-Early career:He was born at Tarbes in Gascony... - Bogusław Linda as Louis de Saint-JustLouis de Saint-JustLouis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just , usually known as Saint-Just, was a military and political leader during the French Revolution. The youngest of the deputies elected to the National Convention in 1792, Saint-Just rose quickly in their ranks and became a major leader of the government of the French...
- Alain Macé as Héron
- Bernard Maître as Legendre
- Lucien Melki as Fabre d'ÉglantineFabre d'ÉglantinePhilippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine , commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine , was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution.-Early life:He was born in Carcassonne, Aude...
- Serge Merlin as Philippeaux
- Erwin Nowiaszek as Jean-Marie Collot d'HerboisJean-Marie Collot d'HerboisJean-Marie Collot d'Herbois was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and, while he saved Madame Tussaud from the Guillotine, he administered the execution of more than 2,000 people in the city of...
- Leonard Pietraszak as Lazare CarnotLazare CarnotLazare Nicolas Marguerite, Comte Carnot , the Organizer of Victory in the French Revolutionary Wars, was a French politician, engineer, and mathematician.-Education and early life:...
- Roger PlanchonRoger PlanchonRoger Planchon , was a French playwright, director, filmmaker.-Biography:...
as Antoine Quentin Fouquier-TinvilleAntoine Quentin Fouquier-TinvilleAntoine Quentin Fouquier de Tinville was a French lawyer during the Revolution and Reign of Terror periods.-Early career:... - Angel Sedgwick as Frere Eleonore
- Andrzej SewerynAndrzej SewerynAndrzej Seweryn is a Polish and French actor and director. One of the most successful Polish theatre actors, he starred in over 50 films, mostly in Poland, France and Germany. He is also one of only three non-French actors to be hired by the Paris-based Comédie-Française.- Biography :Andrzej...
as François Louis BourdonFrançois Louis BourdonFrancois Louis Bourdon , also known as Bourdon de l'Oise, was a French politician of the Revolutionary period and procureur at the parlement of Paris.-Biography:... - Franciszek StarowieyskiFranciszek StarowieyskiFranciszek Andrzej Bobola Biberstein-Starowieyski , was a Polish artist. From 1949 to 1955 he studied at Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and Warsaw. He specialized in poster, drawing, painting, stage designing, and book illustration. He was a member of Alliance Graphique International...
as David - Jerzy TrelaJerzy TrelaJerzy Trela is a Polish actor. In 2003 he starred in the film An Ancient Tale: When the Sun Was a God under Jerzy Hoffman.During the communist era, he was a deputy in the Sejm.-Honours and awards:...
as Jacques Nicolas Billaud-VarenneJacques Nicolas Billaud-VarenneJacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne , also known as Jean Nicolas, was a French personality of the Revolutionary period. Though not one of the most well known figures of the French Revolution, Jacques Nicolas Billaud Varenne was an instrumental figure of the period known as the Reign of Terror... - Jacques VilleretJacques VilleretJacques Villeret was a French actor.-Early life and Family:Born Jacky Boufroura in Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France, to an Algerian father and a French mother, he is most famous internationally for his role as François Pignon in Le Dîner de Cons, both on the stage and in the later film...
as François Joseph WestermannFrançois Joseph WestermannFrançois Joseph Westermann was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars and political figure of the French Revolution.-Career:... - Angela WinklerAngela WinklerAngela Winkler is a German actress.- Biography :Born in Templin, Winkler trained to be a medical technologist in Stuttgart. Interested in theater, she went to Munich, where she took acting classes with Ernst Fritz Fürbringer...
as Lucile DesmoulinsLucile DuplessisAnne Lucile Philippe Laridon Duplessis was the wife of the French revolutionary and journalist Camille Desmoulins. She was the daughter of Claude Etienne Laridon Duplessis, an official of the French Treasury, and Anne Françoise Marie Boisdeveix... - Jean-Loup Wolff as Marie-Jean Hérault de SéchellesMarie-Jean Hérault de SéchellesMarie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles was a French judge and politician who took part in the French Revolution.-Origins and early career:...
- Czeslaw Wollejko as Vadier
- Wladimir Yordanoff as Chef des gardes
- Małgorzata ZajączkowskaMałgorzata ZajączkowskaMałgorzata Zajączkowska, aka Margaret Sophie Stein, born January 31, 1956 in Warsaw is a Polish actress and writer. In the years 1979-1981, she acted in the Teatr Narodowy before moving to the U.S. in 1981. Using the pseudonym of Margaret Sophie Stein, she continued her acting career in television...
as Servante Duplay - Szymon Zaleski as Lebas
External links
- 1983 movie review by Vincent Canby at nytimes.com