DANTON directed by Andrzej Wajda; Screenplay by Jean-Claude Carriere
The rain pours down relentlessly, and the guillotine, disused for a blessed day, stands shrouded in black as the carriage rolls past it. Inside, Georges Danton, self-absorbed as usual, pays scant heed to the instrument with which in a matter of weeks he will find more intimate acquaintance. On this same grim morning in the winter of 1793-94, Maximilien Robespierre, whose health (and humanity) has been virtually consumed by the revolutionary fever that has burned within his puritanical soul for a lifetime, reluctantly awakens. He...