One Nation, One King

Historical film dealing with notorious events of French Revolution from Bastilla assault 1789 to king death : 1793 King Luis Capeto execution. These happenings full of tumults that shaked France brought the end of the ancient society or Ancien Régime and the birth of democracy and a regime of freedom and human rights . Including creation of the newly established Assemblée National, massacre at the camp of Mars , the National Convention 1792 , detention king in Varennes , his confinement in Palace of Tullerias and his subsequent execution at the Concorde Square , Paris . From now on , 1793 , the Terror begins in France, Georges Danton, a champion-of-the-people and founder of Cordeliers club , returns to clash against Maximilien Robespierre and his extremist party . The Committee for Public Safety, under Robespierre's incitement, has begun a series of massive executions, The Terror.

A historical film reenacting the first and main years of the tumultuous French Revolution that caused thousands of deaths . The picture especially narrates the happenings surrounding the revolutionary people , and about King Louis XIV, as his posterior fall , as his subsequent execution . Interweaving historical facts and appearance of notorious characters with the anonymous people who participated in the revolution such as Gaspard Ulliel as Basile, Adele Haenel as Francoise and Olivier Gourmet as the Uncle. Here shows up various known roles, usually speeching at the National Assembly and Convention such as Saint Just, Desmoulins , Robespierre well played by Louis Garrel, Marat finely performed by Denis Lavant and, of course, Louis XVI magnificently acted by Laurent Lafiitte who gives the best scenes about to be executed at the gallows. And even other French kings as Louis XI, Henry IV, Louis XIV King Sun , all of them appearing while Louis XVI is dreaming and reckoning with him due to his negligency for the violent revolution.

It displays a colorful and evocative cinematography by Julien Hirsch. As well as sensitive and atmopheric musical score by Philippe Schoeller. The motion picture lavishly produced , approx. 17 million Euros, being professionally directed Pierre Scholler. Pierre is a good writer and filmmaker who has written and directed a few but decent films as Versalles, Les anonymes, The Minister and this Un peuple et son roi or world wide title : One nation, one king. Rating 6/10. The picture will appeal to history buffs and French Cinema lovers.

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.

An inspired perspective about French Revolution. Beautiful cinematography. Admirable performances. And the sparkles of the change in realistic manner exposed. It is easy to critic it but it is not Danton , not the expected fresco , only a courageous exercise of reflection of small histories and their clash against National Ansembly. It is the film of memorable scenes. And that does it more than interesting, maybe useful for feel old events - fundamental bricks of the our present reality.

An excellent film about the French Revolution which is addressed to connoisseurs of this historical period without the slightest didactic pretention. Very good actors (Denis Lavant plays a more than convincing Marat and Olivier Gourmet is masterful). One deplores however the presence of Izïa Higelin (probably parachuted thanks to the name of her father) whose acting is painful and lowers the general level until the saving disappearance of her character. The scenes that take place in the assembly are perfectly documented. I would advise to read a good book on the subject before watching this film for those who do not know this historical period well, because they might lose the thread soon enough.

I'm French and I just reread the chronology of the Revolution, so the names and events are pretty fresh in my mind... at least they were until I saw this movie. The main problem is that it doesn't seem able to find its genre and goal. Not focused enough to be family drama, not precise enough to be a documentary, not nervous enough to be an historical action movie, not neutral enough to be a political movie... In short, it never decides what it wants to tell and ends up not telling much. It's a succession of scenes, each quite OK but not making much sense together. The family we follow is a symbol of course, but come on, the same people being present at every single major event and political assembly of the era? Plus several things are shown in a strange way, like Robespierre being a calm and peaceful person? Marat (very well played!) as an actual friend of the people? Danton (not nearly ugly and fat enough) as a sort of enemy? Technically speaking the music sometimes feels off and is too present, and many filming tricks, down to the very font of the title panels, but also the framing and lights, are cheesy and seem to be from the 90's. Showing the Revolution from an ordinary family point of view would have been a very good movie. Seeing it from the kings' office was nice too. Making a documentary about the Convention, yep, it could work. All at once? Sorry but nope. It ends up too messy and confusing to be enjoyable, despite very good actors and pretty decent sets and costumes.