we watched this in french but like some of the people talking looked liked they had been dubbed.
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blackmamba1973 — 19 years ago(March 18, 2007 07:18 AM)
Yeah I have it in French (taped it from tv) and there are def. some parts that were dubbed.
It is sp. obvious that Danton and La Fayette were dubbed; they are played by an Austrian and Irish actor respectively, so I would guess that their french-language skills weren't strong enough for the movie, contrary to other foreign actors that did their roles in french even if it wasn't their native tongue.
At first I thought "why take foreign-language actors for a French Rev. film? there were more than enough actors in France to play these very important roles!"
but on a second viewing I saw in the opening credits that this is was acollaboration between France, West Germany,Canada and others, so I would guess that one of the conditions for the other countries's financial participation was that actors and actresses from these countries have a few big roles in the film. Part of it was also financed by France's ministry of defence and ministry of culture, for the bicentennial.It costs a lot of $$ for faithfully recreating a film about 1789-1794, and knowing France they didn't want to disappoint in the bicentennial celebrations!
I do think that this is one of the best films on the French Revolution that I have seen. All the parts of well acted (Peter Ustinov's Mirabeau is so funny! Totally the way I expect him to be in his time, Jane Seymour does a good Marie-Antoinette, the Swiss actor that I can't remember is name but that plays Louis XVI is very good as well). What I like in this film is that nobody's actions are black or white, like in real life everybody's a shade of greyNo one is 100% pure nor no one is 100% vilain.
I don't understand why this isn't out on DVD yetMaybe they are waiting in 2009 for the 220th aniv. of the revolution?