Telly - same old, same old...

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

"Toulon, 1793..."
I may have mentioned this somewhere before, but it was on TV again this afternoon which gave me a chance to get angry and shout at the TV set (to the amusement of friends) all over again. And I've just found it online, so now you can, too, if you want to: http://en.sevenload.com/videos/jFzYVFP-Heroes-and-Villains-Napoleon (that seems to be the whole hour). Yes, the chappie gloating sadistically over the guillotine at the start is Fréron, the pantomime 'villain' of the title, and it was a nice surprise to find this obscure but horrible git the central baddie of the piece (a rare 'serious' (ahem) role for comedian Rob Brydon), but that's where the jollity ends, because, readers, viewers, despite the occasional positive role for the CSP in this little drama, nasty Fréron is here meant to incarnate the 'nasty' Revolution itself. Bummer!

(And no, Augustin Robespierre doesn't get a mention, 'cos if he did it would have to be in a 'positive' context that would screw up the whole 'revolutionaries are pervy little bureaucrats' line of the script...!)

It looks fabulous, though, damn it - why does the devil have the best cinematographers?

Comments

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

I've heard that story attributed to assorted people. I'm even linking it to Eulogue Schneider in my brain, but I think that's just because he used to sentence people to exhibition on the scaffold as a punishment. Honestly, I'm going to say that unless someone can come along and cite that properly I'd be inclined to say that that's one of those stories that has just grown up about the Terror. Which is not to say that it never could have happened, but I don't remember any definite source for it. As much as I dislike Tallien, I can't attribute that to him.

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was Schneider, though the only detailed account of him I've read is in Newton-Curtis' Saint-Just book (and he sounded like fun - apart from the arbitrary killing...!) I suppose the counter-revolutionary regions have a lot of word-of-mouth tales of sadistic repression, like that guillotine story - and I daresay some may be true: warzones do seem to release some people's previously hidden inner sadist/perv/psychopath, regardless of the flag they supposedly march under.

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

Ooooh man, I'm watching this and this is HILARIOUS! I am a big fan of child molestor!Fréron. And the random "Your families were seen having a baby baptized. DIE!"

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

And this authentic dialogue! "We are not men you will ever screw with, Bonaparte! I am not a man you will ever screw with!" The canon blowing the dude's head off- straight out of the The Patriot! Somehow they manage to throw in the Good And Noble Barras. Bad foreshadowing! I'm sure Lucile would love to know that Rabbit was slutting it up in Toulon and Marseille while writing her pining love letters. And lots of dramatic slow motion!

Oh man. That was a quality hour of entertainment.

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

And the conclusion! Napoleon's greatest achievement - to marry his siblings into royalty!
Gaaaah!

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

I can't get over how awesome child molester!Rabbit was. And then he cheated on her! Ohhh snap! Man, those revolutionaries sure were EEEVIL!