Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France's ruler, determined to wipe out opposition with a series of mass executions that became known as the Reign of Terror. Danton, well known as a spokesman of the people, had been living in relative solitude in the French countryside, but he returned to Paris to challenge Robespierre's violent rule and call for the people to demand their rights. Robespierre, however, could not accept such a challenge, even from a friend and colleague, and he blocked out a plan for the capture and execution of Danton and his allies.
Acting
Depardieu's volcanic Danton vs. Pszoniak's icy Robespierre.
Direction
Wajda filmed in Poland as political allegory to Solidarity crackdown.
Cinematography
Shadows and candlelight—Terror never looked so suffocating.
Director
Andrzej Wajda
Gérard Depardieu
Georges Danton
Wojciech Pszoniak
Maximilien Robespierre
Patrice Chéreau
Camille Desmoulins
Angela Winkler
Lucile Desmoulins
Roland Blanche
Lacroix of Eure-et-Loir
Jacques Villeret
François-Joseph Westermann
Anne Alvaro
Eléonore Duplay
Bogusław Linda
Antoine de Saint-Just
Emmanuelle Debever
Louison Danton
Krzysztof Globisz
André Amar
Ronald Guttman
Martial Herman
Marian Kociniak
Robert Lindet
Tadeusz Huk
Georges Couthon
Stéphane Jobert
Étienne-Jean Panis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Wajda had to shoot in Poland because France wouldn't fund a film critical of revolutionary purity. The French co-producers later tried to re-edit it—Wajda smuggled his cut to Cannes.
The film premiered during Poland's martial law; audiences read Danton as Solidarity and Robespierre as the communist regime. Wajda basically weaponized 18th-century France against 1980s Poland.
FR
