Start the Revolution Without Me
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| - | '''Louis XVI''', born '''Louis-Auguste de France''' ([[August 23]] [[1754]] – [[January 21]] [[1793]]) ruled as King of '''France'''. His execution signaled the end of [[absolute monarchy]] in France and would eventually bring about the rise of [[Napoleon I|Napoleon Bonaparte]]. | ||
| - | Louis XVI ruled as [[List of French monarchs|King]] of [[France]] and [[List of Navarrese monarchs|Navarre]] from 1774 until 1791, and then as [[Popular monarchy|King of the French]] from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested during the [[10 August (French Revolution)|Insurrection of 10 August 1792]], he was tried by the [[National Convention]], found guilty of [[treason]], and executed by [[guillotine]] on 21 January 1793. He was the only king of France to be executed. | + | '''''Start the Revolution Without Me''''' is a [[1970 in film|1970]] [[film]] directed by [[Bud Yorkin]], starring [[Gene Wilder]], [[Donald Sutherland]], [[Hugh Griffith]], [[Jack MacGowran]], [[Billie Whitelaw]], [[Orson Welles]] (playing himself as narrator) and [[Victor Spinetti]]. The comedy is set in revolutionary France where two peasants are mistaken for the famous swordsmen, the Corsican Brothers. It can be considered a [[parody]] of a number of works of historical fiction about the [[French Revolution]], including [[Charles Dickens|Dickens']] ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' and [[Alexandre Dumas, père|Dumas']] ''[[The Corsican Brothers]]''. |
| - | Although Louis was beloved at first, his indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to eventually view him as a symbol of the perceived tyranny of the [[Ancien Régime]]. After the [[Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy|abolition of the monarchy]] in 1792, the new republican government gave him the surname Capet, a reference to the nickname of [[Hugh Capet]], founder of the [[Capetian dynasty]], which the revolutionaries wrongly interpreted as a family name. He was also informally nicknamed ''Louis le Dernier'' (Louis the Last), a derisive use of the traditional nicknaming of French kings. Today, historians and French people in general have a more nuanced view of Louis XVI, who is seen as an honest man with good intentions, but who was probably unfit for the herculean task of reforming the monarchy, and who was used as a scapegoat by the revolutionaries. | + | ==Plot== |
| - | ==Image and memory== | + | Two sets of identical twins, played by Wilder and Sutherland, are [[babies switched at birth|accidentally switched at birth]]. One set is aristocratic and haughty, the other poor and dim-witted. On the eve of the French Revolution, both sets find themselves entangled in palace intrigues. |
| - | The [[regicide]] has loomed as a shadow over French history. The 19th-century historian, [[Jules Michelet]], attributed the restoration of the French monarchy to sympathy engendered by the execution. Michelet's ''[[Histoire de la Révolution Française]]'' and Alphonse de Lamartine's ''[[Histoire des Girondins]],'' in particular, showed the marks of the feelings aroused by the revolution's regicide. The two writers did not share the same sociopolitical vision, but they agreed that, even though the monarchy was rightly ended in 1792, the lives of the royal family should have been spared. Lack of compassion at that moment contributed to a radicalization of revolutionary violence and to greater divisiveness among Frenchmen. Because Louis XVI was a merciful man, the revolutionaries' passions needed to be balanced by compassion and by less fanatical sentiments. For 20th century novelist [[Albert Camus]] the execution signaled the end of the role of God in history, for which he mourned. For 20th century philosopher [[Jean-François Lyotard]] the regicide was the starting point of all French thought, the memory of which acts as a reminder that French modernity began under the sign of a crime. | + | ==Awards== |
| + | ''Start the Revolution Without Me'' authors Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen were nominated for a [[Writers Guild of America|WGA]] award for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" in 1971. | ||
| - | The duchess of Angoulême, daughter of Louis XVI, survived and lobbied Rome energetically for the canonization of her father as a saint of the Catholic Church. Despite his signing of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy," Louis had been described as a martyr by Pope Pius VI in 1793. In 1820, however, a memorandum of the Congregation of Rites in Rome, declaring the impossibility of proving that Louis had been executed for religious rather than political reasons, put an end to hopes of canonization. | + | ==Quotations== |
| + | {{quotefarm|date=January 2010}} | ||
| + | * "Make haste, Escargot." | ||
| - | *[[Louisville, Kentucky]] is named for Louis XVI. In 1780, the [[Virginia General Assembly]] bestowed this name in honor of the French king, whose soldiers were aiding the American side in the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. The Virginia General Assembly saw the King as a noble man, but many other continental delegates disagreed. | + | * Narrator: "Paris, France, 1789. Thirty years later, under the reign of Louis XVI, longstanding grievances between aristocrat and peasant were about to boil over. The pot in which these troubles boiled was kindled with the firewood of oppression and injustice and heated by the flames that sucked the air from gasping peasants. Would the pot cool off, would it merely simmer, or would it boil over in the kitchen of France-- to stain the floor of history forever?" |
| - | ===In films and literature=== | + | |
| - | Louis XVI has been portrayed in numerous films depicting the French Revolution. In ''[[Marie Antoinette (1938 film)|Marie Antoinette]]'' (1938), he was played by [[Robert Morley]]. In [[Sacha Guitry]]'s ''[[Si Versailles m'était conté]]'', he was portrayed by one of the film's producers, Gilbert Bokanowski (using the alias Gilbert Boka), who arguably resembled him. Several portrayals have upheld the image of a bumbling, almost foolish King, such as that by [[Jacques Morel (actor)|Jacques Morel]] in the 1956 French film ''[[Marie-Antoinette reine de France]]'' and that by [[Terence Budd]] in the ''[[Lady Oscar (film)|Lady Oscar]]'' live action film. In ''[[Start the Revolution Without Me]]'', Louis XVI is portrayed by [[Hugh Griffith]] as a laughable [[cuckold]]. [[Mel Brooks]] played a comic version of Louis the XVI in [[The History of the World Part 1]], who was portrayed as a libertine who had such a distaste for the peasantry he used them as targets in skeet-shooting. | + | |
| - | In the two-part film ''[[La Révolution française (film)|La Révolution française]]'', [[Jean-François Balmer]] gave a critically-acclaimed performance as Louis XVI, whom he portrayed as an insecure, shy, yet decent and intelligent man. In ''[[Ridicule]]'', the king was played by [[Urbain Cancelier]]. In ''[[Jefferson in Paris]]'', Louis XVI was played by [[Michael Lonsdale]] who, at 64 years old, greatly exceeded the King's actual age. In ''[[Marie Antoinette (2006 film)|Marie Antoinette]]'' (2006), he was played by [[Jason Schwartzman]], in a movie known not to be historically accurate because the historical Louis was quite tall and is known to have gained a great deal of weight towards the end of his life. In the 1997 movie ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]'', a necklace called the [[Heart of the Ocean]] held a precious, heart-shaped blue diamond, supposedly fashioned from Louis XVI's crown, which disappeared after his execution. The history of the necklace was inspired by that of the [[Hope Diamond]]. | + | ==Treatment of History== |
| - | In the American supernatural television drama [[Moonlight (TV series)|''Moonlight'']], Louis XVI is mentioned as the progenitor of a vampiric bloodline which discovered a temporary cure for [[vampirism]]. | + | As a spoof, the film has no pretense of historical accuracy. [[Louis XVI]], who was 38 years old at the time of his death, is played by Hugh Griffith, who was in his late fifties when the film was shot. He is portrayed as a bumbling [[cuckold]]. [[Marie Antoinette]], here called simply Marie, is portrayed as a [[nymphomaniac]]. The French Revolution is depicted as being led exclusively by the impoverished masses, while most revolutionary leaders were actually middle or upper-class citizens. The film also portrays the [[man in the iron mask]], who actually lived during the reign of [[Louis XIV]]. |
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Start the Revolution Without Me is a 1970 film directed by Bud Yorkin, starring Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Jack MacGowran, Billie Whitelaw, Orson Welles (playing himself as narrator) and Victor Spinetti. The comedy is set in revolutionary France where two peasants are mistaken for the famous swordsmen, the Corsican Brothers. It can be considered a parody of a number of works of historical fiction about the French Revolution, including Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Dumas' The Corsican Brothers.
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[edit]
Plot
Two sets of identical twins, played by Wilder and Sutherland, are accidentally switched at birth. One set is aristocratic and haughty, the other poor and dim-witted. On the eve of the French Revolution, both sets find themselves entangled in palace intrigues.
[edit]
Awards
Start the Revolution Without Me authors Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen were nominated for a WGA award for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" in 1971.
[edit]
Quotations
- "Make haste, Escargot."
- Narrator: "Paris, France, 1789. Thirty years later, under the reign of Louis XVI, longstanding grievances between aristocrat and peasant were about to boil over. The pot in which these troubles boiled was kindled with the firewood of oppression and injustice and heated by the flames that sucked the air from gasping peasants. Would the pot cool off, would it merely simmer, or would it boil over in the kitchen of France-- to stain the floor of history forever?"
[edit]
Treatment of History
As a spoof, the film has no pretense of historical accuracy. Louis XVI, who was 38 years old at the time of his death, is played by Hugh Griffith, who was in his late fifties when the film was shot. He is portrayed as a bumbling cuckold. Marie Antoinette, here called simply Marie, is portrayed as a nymphomaniac. The French Revolution is depicted as being led exclusively by the impoverished masses, while most revolutionary leaders were actually middle or upper-class citizens. The film also portrays the man in the iron mask, who actually lived during the reign of Louis XIV.
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