DANTON

DANTON was made one year after the declaration of martial law in Poland and was, since it was by then already difficult for Wajda to make films in Poland, filmed in France. It featured a Polish-French cast: alongside Wojciech Pszoniak as Robespierre, Gerard Depardieu plays Danton and Allan Starski was responsible for the production design. The film itself is based on the 1929 play The Danton Affair by Stanisława Przybyszewska, which was later adapted into a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière and Agnieszka Holland.

Martial law ended in September 1983 and yet the allusions to contemporary Poland remained – the power struggle between bon vivant Danton and the totalitarian Robespierre was interpreted as a metaphor for the conflict between army chief Wojciech Jaruzelski and his opponents from Solidarność. Considering the background of its production and reception, DANTON represents an extraordinary episode of Polish-French film history and, beyond that, an artistically unique philosophical reflection on supposed struggles for freedom and their perversion through extremist principles and practices.

Text: Bernd Buder

Wed 05.11. I 12:30 I OBENKINO I original version with English subtitles