La Nuit de Varennes = the Night of Varennes

“Set in June 1791, it concerns the attempted escape from France of Louis XVI and the royal family. In Scola’s fantastical version of history, they are pursued across country by a coach containing not only the lady-in-waiting Comtesse Sophie de la Borde, but also the cultural celebrities of the period: the legendary lover Giacomo Casanova, the English revolutionary Thomas Paine, and the libertarian writer Restif de la Bretonne. ‘La nuit de Varennes’ is hence as much an anthology of eighteenth-century culture as it is a historical account of the Revolution. As ‘Les Cahiers du cinema’ noted at the time, political history is presented as literary history through the eyes of idealised witnesses who - along with the spectator - remain at a safe distance from the proletariat. In a gesture typical of the heritage genre, Scola privileges cultural references of all kinds, and in particular literary forms, whether through direct quotations from contemporary texts or through the emphasis on written communication - messages, maps, articles and decrees - which is the motor behind the plot. The central narrative - the king’s flight from Paris - is moreover framed by the self-conscious device of the puppet show, which first enacts revolutionary events prior to the king’s disapperance, and ultimately closes with his execution.” Reference: Guy Austin. ‘Contemporary French Cinema’. Manchester University Press, 1996.

Credits: Director, Ettore Scola ; writers, Ettore Scola, Sergio Amidei ; photography, Armando Nanuzzi ; music, Armando Trovajoli ; art direction, Dante Ferretti, Pierre Guffroy.
Cast: Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcello Mastroianni, Hanna Schygulla, Harvey Keitel, Jean-Claude Brialy, Andrea Ferreol, Michel Vitold, Laura Betti.