That Night in Varennes [La Nuit de Varennes] **** (1982, Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcello Mastroianni, Hanna Schygulla, Harvey Keitel) – Classic Movie Review 13,230

The genesis of the French Revolution is seen through the eyes of various fellow travellers following the escaping King, Louis XVI (Michel Piccoli), on the road from Paris to Verdun in 1791. 

Director Ettore Scola’s 1982 French/ Italian film That Night in Varennes [La Nuit de Varennes]  stars Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcello Mastroianni, Hanna Schygulla, Harvey Keitel, Jean-Claude Brialy, Daniel Gélin, Andréa Ferréol, Michel Vitold, Laura Betti, Dora Doll, and Michel Piccoli. The screenplay by Sergio Amidei and Ettore Scola is based on the novel by Catherine Rihoit.

The genesis of the French Revolution is seen through the eyes of various fellow travellers following the escaping King, Louis XVI (Michel Piccoli), in a coach on the road from Paris to Verdun in June 1791.The passengers are caught up in the French Revolution in the city of Varennes when revolutionaries arrest the fleeing King.

What could perhaps have been stodgy art-house fare is brought to life by a wonderful international cast including Marcello Mastroianni as Casanova, Harvey Keitel as Tom Paine and Hanna Schygulla as a countess. But stealing the limelight is Jean-Louis Barrault (as Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne), who, at 72, out-acts them all and responds with an almost adolescent enthusiasm to the direction of Ettore Scola (also responsible for that year’s international success, Le Bal).

That Night in Varennes is a beautiful, very pleasing film, most pleasantly diverting, if a trifle overlong at 165 minutes, with many virtues (notably Dante Ferretti’s production designs and Armando Nannuzzi’s cinematography), but mainly a winner for the performances.

Celebrated French stage actor/ director/ producer Jean-Louis Barrault was born on September 8, 1910 and died on January 22, 1994.

It proved to be Barrault’s penultimate film: after La Lumière du Lac (1988), he died of a heart attack on January 22, 1994, aged 83. He was mainly a theatre star, but in cinema is remembered for Drôle de drame (1937), Mirages (1938) and his greatest film Children of Paradise (1945), made during World War Two when he hid French Underground members on the set.

Also in the cast are Enzo Jannacci, Pierre Malet, Hugues Quester, Caterina Boratto, Didi Perego, Eléonore Hirt, Evelyne Dress, Aline Mess, Patrick Osmond, and Vernon Dobtcheff.

That Night in Varennes [La Nuit de Varennes] is directed by Ettore Scola, runs 165 minutes, is made by Gaumont, France 3 [FR3] and Opera Film Produzione, is released by Gaumont (France and Italy), Triumph Films (US), Contemporary Films (UK) and Electric (UK), is written by Sergio Amidei and Ettore Scola, is shot in widescreen and Eastmancolor by Armando Nannuzzi, is produced by Renzo Rossellini, is scored by Armando Trovajoli, and is designed by Dante Ferretti.

The 1983 US release by Triumph Films was subtitled but in a cut version (135 minutes).

Ettore Scola was born on May 10, 1931 in Trevico, Campania, Italy, and died on January 19, 2016 in Rome. He was known for A Special Day (1977), The Family (1987) and Le Bal (1983).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,230

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