Making of La mort de Robespierre

Making of
La mort de Robespierre

I knew that I wanted to make a French Revolution film for my thesis since my first year at CalArts.

During my third year, I was selected for the Gobelins exchange program, therefore I did not have to complete a film. So instead, I began brainstorming for my fourth year film.

I decided naturally that the film should be about Robespierre and Thermidor; however, the script process became messy and went through a lot of re-writes, because I can't decide on what should be the focal point. Below are the multiple variations of the animatic.

Both early versions focused a lot more on the relationship between Saint-Just and Robespierre than the final film. I think it was a solid theme but I wasn't exactly satisfied. The film still felt too segmented and all the events did not build up to a climax.

Visually, I like the experimentation with more creative panelling. I was doing a lot of comics at the time and thought I could incorporate those compositions into the film.

I think the difficulty with Thermidor as a subject is that there will never be a single "official" version. Even if the sequence of events is always the same, we can't know the psychological and emotional space of those hours. I can't agree on a set version of Thermidor myself. So the challenge of this film is what do I want to focus on during Thermidor.

The possibilities are rather endless: sacrificing your life for your ideas, things to miss in life, regret of a decision, defending your stance vs. compromising, homoeroticism (you know), martyrdom, loss of a regime, rehabilitation of Robespierre's reputation, etc.

I took a break from my early animatics and reviewed them again at the beginning of my fourth year. It was then clear to me that the earlier stories lacked a concrete direction. Although homoeroticism (tbh that's what it is) was a big idea, it wasn't homoerotic enough to be distinct. And frankly, the dialogues felt either inauthentic or pretentious, so I wanted to restart my approach.

I restarted without a script by going straight to thumbnails. As expected, I struggled a lot with storyboarding. So instead, I boarded the film through a comic. It came a lot more naturally when I did not have to think about layout or cinematography.

Oddly enough, this version was easier to write than previous.

While Robespierre most certainly was under a lot of mental and emotional strain especially in the last days of his life, the choice to focus on depressive thoughts and ideations as a theme was mostly a personal decision. As mentioned before, I don't have a set idea of Thermidor myself. The biggest reason I chose this interpretation is because 1) it certainly is historically plausible, 2) the emotions felt a lot more authentic to me.

I was projecting a lot of myself onto this film. These are thoughts that I've had. I didn't have a gun like Robespierre but I did do something stupid. It didn't work, seeing that I am still here. That experience left me with a lot of pent up thoughts and this film served as a vent.

On another level, I also think it was interesting to explore "what if Robespierre chose to forfeit help" rather than because of indecisiveness. I also wanted to try something different from "a soldier intercepted his signature". I think it makes a lot more drama if Robespierre knew his decision.

The theme is now concise for me. I removed Saint-Just's ending reaction from the final film because it would have shifted the attention to Saint-Just's perspective, and I wanted the whole film to be Robespierre's psychological realm.

REFERENCES

Robespierre table

The table that Robespierre lied on after being wounded in the jaw.

Hôtel de Ville

Where the deputies were trapped before the soldiers stormed in.

Appel à la section des Piques

The very document containing Robespierre's unfinished signature

Robespierre table

The table that Robespierre lied on after being wounded in the jaw.

1/3

The production of the film was steady. It especially helped that I took a lot of reference images during my stay in Paris.

Note on the unfinished signature document:

I have read analysis on why Robespierre's signature was unfinished. In fact, Mathiez (if I remember correctly) suggested that "Ro" was the shorthand signature for Robespierre and that this document was finished and delivered to the section.

I chose to interpret the signature as unfinished as part of creative liberty, since it would serve the overall message of my film piece much more cohesively.

There is also debate on if Robespierre actually shot himself. The alternative common interpretation is that a soldier "Merda" shot him. Since there is no confirmation, I went with the interpretation that Robespierre attempted to shoot himself, since it's much more powerful.

Statue of Tragedy

I originally wanted to depict a deputy or certain philosopher (probably Rousseau) since those are the current statues installed on Hotel de Ville.

However I found out later on that those statues were installed way later after the French Revolution, and I couldn't find any record of the statues that were in place during 1794.

I read that statues of Comedy, Tragedy, Music, Poetry, etc. are currently installed on the second level of the building. They seemed appropriate as an alternative so I chose to depict the statue of Tragedy. I couldn't find any visual or photos of it so I referenced other sculptures of Melpomene (the Muse of Tragedy). However, I made her dagger point inwards, as a reference to the suicide attempt that is to come.

Goat

While brainstorming what animal to depict, I saw an image of a skinned sheep (on wechat....). It disturbed me how it looked still almost alive. It captured how I want the carcass to be a living shell, walking, moving, yet clearly hollow on the inside.

Another reason for the goat was to borrow the religious symbolism attached to it. Robespierre was, in fact, referred to as the "scapegoat" in historiographies. I learned during my production that the word scapegoat has a literal meaning and is a reference to the practice in the Bible (well, according to wikipedia). It also happens that Robespierre was also appraised as the "messiah" or "martyr", which both have a lot of Christian symbolism and connotation attached.

Paneling

I was drawing a lot of comics at the time of pre-production and thought it would be interesting to mix the visual languages of comics and films together.

I also wanted to give more meaning and reason to use the comic panels, so that it's not just a gimmick. I tried my best to isolate Robespierre in his own panels, or at least frame him within something, to show the separation and how he's literally stuck in his own mind space.

It's a little too subtle and probably a stretch, so I hope to be even more intentional in the future.

Paintings

I was searching for a symbolic contemporary painting to portray and was debating between "Le génie de la France entre la liberté et la mort" (Regnault) and "Ecole militaire"; however, they didn't quite fit in terms of the statement I want to deliver, so I searched for another painting, "L'Espérance soutient l'homme jusqu'au tombeau" (Caraffe) and referenced the figure of Hope.

The figure points to the candle flame (hope) above and extends a hand out to Robespierre on the table. He only needs to look up and accept the angel's offer for salvation, but he has decayed too far and does not see it.

There are many more points relating to symbolisms in this film, but I'll leave the rest open. If the audience sees something that I don't, then it's fascinating for me to read as well, since I've grown numb after seeing the animation too many times.

END NOTES

To be honest, I am mostly surprised that I managed to finish the film. I really expected that there would be no Robespierre film from me.

I give my genuine thanks to my friends and family for pulling me through every day. Even if it never comes across your mind, you all helped me to be patient and wait for the next day and hope it will get better, and to be immensely grateful to be alive.

If you happen to really resonate with this film, I also ask you to wait it out for another day. It really got better.

Merci Robespierre, merci. Vous ne le savez pas, mais vous continuez a inspirer l'esprit. Je ne vous connais pas, mais vous êtes un grand homme.