One Nation, One King (Un peuple et son roi)

The main purpose of this fresco was to show the French Revolution through the eyes of the people , and to avoid a hollywoodian treatment. It was not the first time the French cinema had attempted such an approach : in 1937, Jean Renoir did it ,in his much-debated "la Marseillaise".

"Un peuple et son roi" is a curate's egg ; its first part does show the people , particularly in the storming of La Bastille ;a decent place is given over to women ,but why not mention the most famous of them all , Olympe de Gouges, who was ignored by the history books for years? Although they chose highly talented actors such as Olivier Gourmet ,it does not always work : one conversation,about domestic and foreign politics circa 1792 does not sound popular at all ; The scenes when Gourmet the glass-blower teaches his job to his apprentice ,is interspersed with scenes of the trial of the king ,(or it is the other way about?) :the connection escapes me,I fear ...

The storming of the Tuileries is a good moment but spoiled by the hackneyed trick of slow motion ....The humiliated king , who takes refuge in "la salle du manège" ,the Assemblée Nationale 's seat , who 's still got his hearty appetite ;the choice of comédien français Laurent Laffite is eminently questionable : louis XVI was an educated clever man,but he was gauche , oafish and not handsome at all ; when he's climbing the steps of the scaffold ,he's told " watch out,it's slippery!"(!) ,but the priest does not utter his famous " Heaven awaits on you,son of Saint-Louis". Marie-Antoinette ,in her short appearances ,is exactly how she is shown in old history books : aloof, haughty ; the popular Revolution was fueled by this hatred for the queen :why does one never feel it ,particularly in the women's march on Versailles in October 1789 which is almost treated as a musical whereas the words were harsh :" bread or the queen's guts !"

Unfortunately , and more and more as the film progresses, the people takes a back seat to the historic figures :Robespierre,Barnave , Saint-Just ,Marat,et al ; in Louis XVI's nightmare , even the former kings are summoned (they look like Madame Tussaud's wax models : the Sun King, Henri IV and Louis XI).

And the final scene should have seen through the populace's eyes , not on the scaffold ! It succumbs to the initial vice :hollywoodian to the core ; there are French movies about Joan of Arc where the stake is shown from a distance ,or not at all.

All in all, it's a decent show, but it falls short of its goal.