It's being edited right now by estellacat, who's checking the transcripted quotes from the videos, some translations and my English (coz I speak French, and, erm, it's the first time I write such a long essay all in English). :D
Yes, I feel that this scene -- which is truly impressive, as you said; I'm always so impressed by it -- serves as a good "example" of their ideals, of their relationship, it serves to explain why it failed, why it had to fail, why there was no other ways. It's very "literary" in this sense (I don't know if that's the right term) or "philosophical". Or even, it almost gives a historical explation because the "suspended in a void" ("suspendu dans le vide") part is so often repeated by historians (Mathiez, Soboul) about what happened after the "Germinal Crisis", and how it can partially explain Thermidor. It's very Mathiézin (or Soboulien) on the whole. There were explanations from Mathiez that I've read which were portrayed almost the same way in the two films.
I don't know, I wouldn't think "sweet". I would think he's very composed and, yes, reasonable -- what I like in these films is his capacity to reason with the others, to try to conciliate as he tried to do before Thermidor. He appears much more self-controlled than Maxime -- which fits the legendary line he would have told him "Calm down; the empire belongs to the flegmatics" or something like that -- but he's still curt and abrupt, hence why I wouldn't say "sweet" (except when he speaks privately/intimately with Maxime: the tone of his voice amazingly changes). He's capable to retort to Collot or to Carnot in this -- that's what I like (and that's part of my essay as well).
As for the last thing you mention, I think it may have helped if we had had scenes of him in his missions. Of course, that was a made-for-TV film and it's obvious that they lacked the budget to do that, but it would have been awesome. Yes, I do believe that this complex personality could inspire "fear", mixed with "fascination" or "inspiration" (since he tried to "inspire" the Revolution after all) -- they all tried to mould themselves with the concept of the "sublime" (the culture of Year II being very much characterized by it) and I think Saint-Just is one of the revolutionaries who succeeded it best, with the myth he contributed to create around himself when he lived (particularly in his missions, he was very self-conscious of that).
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Yes, I feel that this scene -- which is truly impressive, as you said; I'm always so impressed by it -- serves as a good "example" of their ideals, of their relationship, it serves to explain why it failed, why it had to fail, why there was no other ways. It's very "literary" in this sense (I don't know if that's the right term) or "philosophical". Or even, it almost gives a historical explation because the "suspended in a void" ("suspendu dans le vide") part is so often repeated by historians (Mathiez, Soboul) about what happened after the "Germinal Crisis", and how it can partially explain Thermidor. It's very Mathiézin (or Soboulien) on the whole. There were explanations from Mathiez that I've read which were portrayed almost the same way in the two films.
I don't know, I wouldn't think "sweet". I would think he's very composed and, yes, reasonable -- what I like in these films is his capacity to reason with the others, to try to conciliate as he tried to do before Thermidor. He appears much more self-controlled than Maxime -- which fits the legendary line he would have told him "Calm down; the empire belongs to the flegmatics" or something like that -- but he's still curt and abrupt, hence why I wouldn't say "sweet" (except when he speaks privately/intimately with Maxime: the tone of his voice amazingly changes). He's capable to retort to Collot or to Carnot in this -- that's what I like (and that's part of my essay as well).
As for the last thing you mention, I think it may have helped if we had had scenes of him in his missions. Of course, that was a made-for-TV film and it's obvious that they lacked the budget to do that, but it would have been awesome. Yes, I do believe that this complex personality could inspire "fear", mixed with "fascination" or "inspiration" (since he tried to "inspire" the Revolution after all) -- they all tried to mould themselves with the concept of the "sublime" (the culture of Year II being very much characterized by it) and I think Saint-Just is one of the revolutionaries who succeeded it best, with the myth he contributed to create around himself when he lived (particularly in his missions, he was very self-conscious of that).