Marcello Mastroianni (Photo du film).
La Nuit de Varennes by Scola
The Cinéma de la Plage continues its eclectic programme this Saturday with the screening of La Nuit de Varennes, one of the great classics by the Italian filmmaker Ettore Scola (Plage Macé, 9:30 p.m.).
A key episode in the fall of Louis XVI, seen by a director who always enjoyed exploring the byways of History. La Nuit de Varennes, which was presented in Competition at Cannes in 1982, is one in a series of feature films that stands out in Ettore Scola’s filmography. The quality of its cast is particularly notable. It stars Jean-Louis Barrault and Marcello Mastroianni, both of whom are excellent at the heart of this historical fresco painted by Scola in his own unique way.
Winner of the Prize for Best Director for Affreux, sales, et méchants (1976), and of the Prize for Best Screenplay for La Terrasse (1980), Scola does indeed offer a novel view of the night of 21st June 1791, which saw the King of France and Marie-Antoinette attempt to flee the Palais Royal. A novel view for a good reason: Ettore Scola depicts only a few insignificant details of the royal couple’s attempt at escape which ended in their arrest, preferring instead to concentrate on the popular discontent which was bubbling up in France at the time.
B.P.
