The French Revolution
La Révolution française (film)
Directors: Robert Enrico, Richard T. Heffron Writers: David Ambrose, Daniel Boulanger | 3 more credits » Stars: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Jane Seymour, François Cluzet
Since we are only one day removed from France's national holiday, la fête nationale, most often known as Bastille Day in English speaking countries, it seemed like a good idea to stay on that theme for at least one more day.
How did I celebrate? Well, I was planning to go to Frenchtown with my son. It is a relatively nearby town that has official Bastille Day celebrations, which my girlfriend and I went to a couple of years ago. Thought that my son and I could go this time, but it will officially be celebrated this weekend, on the 18th. Unfortunately, with my schedule, that will not be possible. However, I did watch the fireworks show live from Paris through the Eiffel Tower (Paris) Webcam https://worldcams.tv/france/paris/eiffel-tower, and enjoyed that. Also, I began rewatching a movie that I have long meant to publish a review on, but never quite got around to doing.
Today seemed like a good opportunity to remedy that.
The French Revolution was a monumental historical event, and the significance of the events in France during this time are hardly overstated. Many people feel that the history of the modern world begins with the French Revolution. There were ideas about freedom, equality, oppression and the right to self-determination that challenged institutions like religions and the monarchy that had rarely, if ever, been challenged before and, in fact, ended both of them officially for a period. France was never the same after the revolution, and in many respects, neither was the rest of the world. Some consider the revolution to have ended with the rise of Napoleon, and a legitimate case could be made there. However, there is no denying that Napoleon sprang from the revolution, and that the insane pace of the events of the revolution continued right through the Napoleonic years. By the end of the Napoleonic era, Haiti had become the first independent black nation, South American nations had taken up arms against a compromised Spain that had been under the thumb of Napoleon, and the United States had greatly expanded it's territory after making a deal with Napoleon. Later in the 19th century, France had several revolutions inspired by the original revolution, as did numerous other European nations.
Again, the impact and influence of the French Revolution can hardly be overstated when taking these things into consideration.
This film is very good. Yes, it is long. But it is also thorough, capturing the most important moments of the French Revolution, and doing a spectacular job, I feel, of capturing the spirit of the thing, and making sense of the chaos, and how the chaos led to events that sometimes, in retrospect, seemed almost preordained. The storming of the Bastille, one of the key events of the French Revolution, and what is often cited as the actual start of it, is done quite well. It was filmed in a place, and with a building, that could pass for the Bastille. And you get to witness how misunderstanding and miscommunication led to events that, had history worked itself out slightly differently, might have turned out very differently indeed.
Maribeau seems to know that the course of the revolution, as it was going, would inevitably slide into complete anarchy. He senses that the monarchy is in serious danger of extinction, and he desperately wants to save it, even when he himself is on his deathbed. Indeed, some suggest that Maribeau might have saved France from the Reign of Terror that was just around the corner, although he had taken pay from King Louis XVI, as well as from foreign agents.
Ultimately, I would strongly recommend this movie. Yes, it has subtitles, so you can watch it even if you do not know French. It is the most thorough and, I think, realistic interpretation of how the French Revolution likely went down. It also served as a refresher for me, personally. I took a course on the French Revolution in college, and watching this movie was a good reminder of some of the key points and people involved. It also helps you to understand just how and why the events played out as they did, and how some events or results led to others, as the revolution slowly but surely spun out of control.
It is not as dramatic as 'Danton,' where the title character is played by Gerard Depardieu. Indeed, that movie has some humorous moments, while also playing in some respects like a horror movie, which seems not entirely out of place given that it takes place during the scary days of the Reign of Terror.
Still, you can see the events unfolding, one after the other. You can see the humble beginnings of what would be an event with such huge and long-term ramifications, that the rest of Europe, and indeed the entire world, could hardly afford to ignore it. You can see the tensions build, and you see the revolutionaries growing stronger, feeling more confident and emboldened almost with each passing day. You can feel the tide of history turning, as the royal family feels ever more compromised and even irrelevant, as others begin to sense that far from being the embodiment of the nation and it's fortunes, the king stands in the way of the nation's progress.
What gives it a realistic feel is how you can see how misunderstandings played a large part in the events. From the storming of the Bastille, and specifically, just how bloody it got based on the suspicions of the revolutionaries down below who were not kept abreast of what was going on in a timely manner, to the infamous things that Marie Antoinnette was accused of doing and being, even though many of these things were, at best, huge exaggerations and, at worst, malicious fabrications meant to make her look bad and turn public opinion against her.
And you get a feel for how the events unfolded and had such an impact on the people, particularly in the beginning of the movie, which focuses on the part of the revolution that is often viewed as the heroic, largely positive time, the first couple of years, from maybe 1789 until 1791.
However, the movie does get a bit blurry in terms of the motivations behind the action once it approaches the darker times, particularly the Reign of Terror.
This film is very good. Yes, it is long. But it is also thorough, capturing the most important moments of the French Revolution, and doing a spectacular job, I feel, of capturing the spirit of the thing, and making sense of the chaos, and how the chaos led to events that sometimes, in retrospect, seemed almost preordained. The storming of the Bastille, one of the key events of the French Revolution, and what is often cited as the actual start of it, is done quite well. It was filmed in a place, and with a building, that could pass for the Bastille. And you get to witness how misunderstanding and miscommunication led to events that, had history worked itself out slightly differently, might have turned out very differently indeed.
Maribeau seems to know that the course of the revolution, as it was going, would inevitably slide into complete anarchy. He senses that the monarchy is in serious danger of extinction, and he desperately wants to save it, even when he himself is on his deathbed. Indeed, some suggest that Maribeau might have saved France from the Reign of Terror that was just around the corner, although he had taken pay from King Louis XVI, as well as from foreign agents.
Ultimately, I would strongly recommend this movie. Yes, it has subtitles, so you can watch it even if you do not know French. It is the most thorough and, I think, realistic interpretation of how the French Revolution likely went down. It also served as a refresher for me, personally. I took a course on the French Revolution in college, and watching this movie was a good reminder of some of the key points and people involved. It also helps you to understand just how and why the events played out as they did, and how some events or results led to others, as the revolution slowly but surely spun out of control.
It is not as dramatic as 'Danton,' where the title character is played by Gerard Depardieu. Indeed, that movie has some humorous moments, while also playing in some respects like a horror movie, which seems not entirely out of place given that it takes place during the scary days of the Reign of Terror.
Still, you can see the events unfolding, one after the other. You can see the humble beginnings of what would be an event with such huge and long-term ramifications, that the rest of Europe, and indeed the entire world, could hardly afford to ignore it. You can see the tensions build, and you see the revolutionaries growing stronger, feeling more confident and emboldened almost with each passing day. You can feel the tide of history turning, as the royal family feels ever more compromised and even irrelevant, as others begin to sense that far from being the embodiment of the nation and it's fortunes, the king stands in the way of the nation's progress.
What gives it a realistic feel is how you can see how misunderstandings played a large part in the events. From the storming of the Bastille, and specifically, just how bloody it got based on the suspicions of the revolutionaries down below who were not kept abreast of what was going on in a timely manner, to the infamous things that Marie Antoinnette was accused of doing and being, even though many of these things were, at best, huge exaggerations and, at worst, malicious fabrications meant to make her look bad and turn public opinion against her.
And you get a feel for how the events unfolded and had such an impact on the people, particularly in the beginning of the movie, which focuses on the part of the revolution that is often viewed as the heroic, largely positive time, the first couple of years, from maybe 1789 until 1791.
However, the movie does get a bit blurry in terms of the motivations behind the action once it approaches the darker times, particularly the Reign of Terror.
Again, La Révolution française/ French Revolution is a long movie. Seriously, it is about six hours long and no, I am not kidding about that.
However, it is a good, and pretty damn thorough, movie about this monumental event in history.
The French Revolution changed the world in so many respects. Everybody knows about the Bastille, of course. Everybody knows about the guillotine, and particularly that the King, Louis XVI, was beheaded. And everybody also knows who came at the end of the Revolution: Napoleon. Some would suggest that Napoleon was a continuation of the Revolution, although most people feel that it ended with him rising to power, if not perhaps even well before that, like when Robespierre was beheaded.
Most people who are at least somewhat familiar with the Oath of the Tennis Court, or the women marching to Versailles to bring Louis XVI back to Paris. Scholars, or people who are much more intimately familiar with the French Revolution, will enjoy this movie as a refresher, of sorts, of the events, or at least as a mostly accurate visual and audio interpretation of how this major historical event transpired, from the early, mostly idealistic days, into the descent into darkness, extremism and shocking violence.
Highly recommended!
The French Revolution Part 1 English subtitles French autogenerated captions:
https://youtu.be/0ofCqCc3S1s
The French Revolution Part 2 English subtitles French autogenerated captions:
https://youtu.be/YgtK2BnMmUM
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