L'Ami du Peuple

Because Marat was still leading a clandestine existence, the extent of his direct involvement in planning the insurrection of 10 August is unclear, but the moving spirits among the organizers were staunch People’s Friend partisans such as the Cordeliers’ Panis, Garin, Heron, and Santerre. Marat was meeting with them and with groups of fédérés. His published calls to insurrection certainly made a signifigant contribution to the mobilization…The insurrection of 10 August constituted a social revolution of the sort that Marat had long called for. The new Commune had been formed by representative of the forty-eight sections chosen without regard for the exchusionary distinction between “active” and “passive” citizens. The Feuillants and Brissotins thereby lost thir artificial electoral advantage…The sansculottes were for the first time participating in the exercise of real power. The formerly disenfranchised passive citizens were passive no longer.

“Un peuple et son roi” came out on wednesday, and here’s a lil review as I know some peeps were interested in this movie.

The movie (first part of a 2 parts movie) covers the revolution from 1789 to the death of king Louis XVI.

Contrary to many pieces about the French Revolution, it doesn’t actually revolve around the major figures of that time, or the great political fights. The director (Pierre Schoeller) chose instead to show all these events through the daily lives of the commoners. The main character of this movie is indeed the people of Paris.

I think it’s an interesting take, as you get to see a new point of view on the subject, how the fall of the Bastille, the massacre of the Champs de Mars, the king’s flight to Varennes and such meddled with people’s lives and ideas. For example, there was a really moving sequence in which the Bastille is being torn appart, and the cheers in the street is suddenly reduced to a distant background noise in the room of a woman who has just lost her child.

There is also a lot of symbolism, especially with the sun and fire, and some strange dream/otherwordly sequences through the movie.

The historical accuracy is really good, as the director worked with a lot of French, Italian and American historians. The events, outfits, hairstyles, even the songs people sang (actual revolutionary songs), the photography, everything is on point.

The acting is really great too (for those who may not know, the movie was filled to the brim with A-list French actors), and I want to give a special round of applause to Laurent Lafitte (Louis XVI) , Denis Lavant (Marat) and Adèle Haenel (Françoise), who were perfect.

Definitely a good watch, and I can’t wait to see the sequel! I hope a lot of you guys will see it!

Also, as I said, the director was here for a meet and greet ans we had some questions!

@fantasiavii: why he thought it was important to tell this story now? :

He said that in this previous movie (La Raison d’Etat), he showed how politicians were so far away from the people they were supposed to represent. This idea stayed with him, and he started to look if there was a time when politicians were, instead, very close, very linked to the people, and that’s why he started to explore the Revolution.

@silver-whistle: what is he doing with our dear Maxime? :

The movie was pretty neutral about him, as with all the rest of the “big ones”. As I said, the main character here is the people. For example, Camille has just one line. We get to see Robespierre delivering 2 speeches, the first one at his debut, getting talked over and bashed, and a second one 3 years later, now a powerful and respected orator, in a silent room. We also see him starring eerily at the public when he isn’t speaking and writing alone in his bedroom. But I feel like he is going to be much more prominent in the next movie. He doesn’t appear as a bad man, nor an especially good man. Just a man, in the end.

For the rest of our beloved deputies: Danton and Camille both have little screen time, Marat is ON FIRE, Saint-Just (pronouced “Saint-Ju”, kill me) is very strong willed, but also not portrayed in a bad light, and you also see Pétion, Barnave and Momoro.

so apparently that movie about the french revolution is coming out later this year?

When people insist putting you on the chair and wearing laurel wreath after winning your own defense

but then you remember you’re the sans-culottes’ king

but then you feel even bigger responsibilities

when the nation is being lulled to sleep

when the first impressions in national convention are important

when danton is at it again

when no one will support you after another girondist provocation and danton disowns you

when they send the police after you for the 96734th time

when they intimidate your printers and destroy your presses

when a reader sends you some juicy info about a counter-revolutionary plot

and then you remember that it will lead to another arrest warrant, but publish it anyway

when someone shelters you from the pursuers

when you go to get a permission for publishing your paper but you are still blamed for disturbing the peace 

when national assembly doesn’t reply after you’ve sent them 86339 suggestions for citizen rights

when the mountain ignores you after girondists are gone

when cordeliers club asks you to resume l’ami du peuple 

when you publish info that king is going to flee twice but he does it when your third warning is still being printed 

when you like to put the bourgeoisie in the uncomfortable situations so you invade talma’s party for some questioning

when dumouriez says they were prussian deserters and activates your suspicion glands 

when you haven’t had breakfast and all they bring is a cup of hot chocolate

when montagnards finally support you but then they go away on business trip and girondists attack you again

when you accept the title of the bloodthirsty monster that will be added to your name even after your death

Looking at you, Prieur, Julien and Bourbotte:

Orléans, ce 23 avril 1793, l’an II de la République française.

                      Citoyens nos collègues,

           Absents depuis près de trois semaines pour l’exécution de votre décret qui déclare la ville d’Orléans en état de rébellion, ce n’est que par les papiers publics que nous avons appris que Marat, dans votre séance du 15 [sic pour 13] de ce mois, avait été mis en état d’accusation. Sans partager les erreurs dans lesquelles ce représentant du peuple a quelquefois été entraîné par un excès de zèle, nous ne croyons pas devoir nous taire et laisser ignorer à la France entière notre opinion sur votre décret. Nous déclarons donc ici formellement que, si nous eussions pu, au moment de l’appel nominal, émettre notre vœu sur cette question, par respect pour l’inviolabilité des principes, nous aurions voté contre le décret d’accusation. Pour donner à notre lettre toute la publicité que nous désirons, nous espérons, citoyens collègues, que vous voudrez bien en ordonner l’insertion au Bulletin.

           Les représentants de la nation, députés par la Convention nationale, à Orléans.

Signé : J. Julien de Toulouse ; Bourbotte, de l’Yonne ; Prieur, de la Marne.

WOW! But the 7th picture is not Marat, it's Francois Charette, general of the vendeens ;)

Source

When people insist putting you on the chair and wearing laurel wreath after winning your own defense

but then you remember you’re the sans-culottes’ king

but then you feel even bigger responsibilities

when the nation is being lulled to sleep

when the first impressions in national convention are important

when danton is at it again

when no one will support you after another girondist provocation and danton disowns you

when they send the police after you for the 96734th time

when they intimidate your printers and destroy your presses

when a reader sends you some juicy info about a counter-revolutionary plot

and then you remember that it will lead to another arrest warrant, but publish it anyway

when someone shelters you from the pursuers

when you go to get a permission for publishing your paper but you are still blamed for disturbing the peace 

when national assembly doesn’t reply after you’ve sent them 86339 suggestions for citizen rights

when the mountain ignores you after girondists are gone

when cordeliers club asks you to resume l’ami du peuple 

when you publish info that king is going to flee twice but he does it when your third warning is still being printed 

when you like to put the bourgeoisie in the uncomfortable situations so you invade talma’s party for some questioning

when dumouriez says they were prussian deserters and activates your suspicion glands 

when you haven’t had breakfast and all they bring is a cup of hot chocolate

when montagnards finally support you but then they go away on business trip and girondists attack you again

when you accept the title of the bloodthirsty monster that will be added to your name even after your death

Looking at you, Prieur, Julien and Bourbotte:

Orléans, ce 23 avril 1793, l’an II de la République française.

                      Citoyens nos collègues,

           Absents depuis près de trois semaines pour l’exécution de votre décret qui déclare la ville d’Orléans en état de rébellion, ce n’est que par les papiers publics que nous avons appris que Marat, dans votre séance du 15 [sic pour 13] de ce mois, avait été mis en état d’accusation. Sans partager les erreurs dans lesquelles ce représentant du peuple a quelquefois été entraîné par un excès de zèle, nous ne croyons pas devoir nous taire et laisser ignorer à la France entière notre opinion sur votre décret. Nous déclarons donc ici formellement que, si nous eussions pu, au moment de l’appel nominal, émettre notre vœu sur cette question, par respect pour l’inviolabilité des principes, nous aurions voté contre le décret d’accusation. Pour donner à notre lettre toute la publicité que nous désirons, nous espérons, citoyens collègues, que vous voudrez bien en ordonner l’insertion au Bulletin.

           Les représentants de la nation, députés par la Convention nationale, à Orléans.

Signé : J. Julien de Toulouse ; Bourbotte, de l’Yonne ; Prieur, de la Marne.

Jean-Paul Marat’s tomb in the garden of the Cordeliers Convent in Paris: a glade in a wooded park, with pedestal supporting an urn on a small rocky promontory, surrounded by people. c.1793/94 Etching

EDIT: Marat’s final resting place is still debatable. Some say it’s in Saint-Étienne-du-Mont’s cemetery which is located on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, near the Panthéon (can’t see any visible cemetery and official website doesn’t mention Marat being buried there). Others say that Marat’s remains are buried in the Saint-Geneviève’s (church, north west of Paris) cemetery (the cemetery was desecrated though). Another source mentions Marat being buried in Paris catacombs.

When I was planning my trip to Paris this Summer, I looked up the grave sites of a lot of famous figures buried in Paris, including Marat. I read online that, after his body was moved out of the Pantheon, it was moved to a graveyard at the Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, right next door. So, after visiting the Pantheon itself, I stop by the church, but when I look it up on Google Maps I saw the same thing, no graveyard in sight. I went in the church to find a lady at a help desk who provides information about it and its history and said “hey, I read Marat is buried in a cemetary here, where is it? Is it out back behind the church?” Turns out, the church is the cemetary. There used to be a cemetary there along with the church, but it was evantually demolished and built over, so now the church rests on top of it. Marat’s body is somewhere, unmarked, beneath the Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.

Some time ago I contacted the parish in Saint-Étienne-du-Mont who told me that they cannot give location of Marat’s burial place. 

When people insist putting you on the chair and wearing laurel wreath after winning your own defense

but then you remember you’re the sans-culottes’ king

but then you feel even bigger responsibilities

when the nation is being lulled to sleep

when the first impressions in national convention are important

when danton is at it again

when no one will support you after another girondist provocation and danton disowns you

when they send the police after you for the 96734th time

when they intimidate your printers and destroy your presses

when a reader sends you some juicy info about a counter-revolutionary plot

and then you remember that it will lead to another arrest warrant, but publish it anyway

when someone shelters you from the pursuers

when you go to get a permission for publishing your paper but you are still blamed for disturbing the peace 

when national assembly doesn’t reply after you’ve sent them 86339 suggestions for citizen rights

when the mountain ignores you after girondists are gone

when cordeliers club asks you to resume l’ami du peuple 

when you publish info that king is going to flee twice but he does it when your third warning is still being printed 

when you like to put the bourgeoisie in the uncomfortable situations so you invade talma’s party for some questioning

when dumouriez says they were prussian deserters and activates your suspicion glands 

when you haven’t had breakfast and all they bring is a cup of hot chocolate

when montagnards finally support you but then they go away on business trip and girondists attack you again

when you accept the title of the bloodthirsty monster that will be added to your name even after your death

EXCUSE ME