The Assembly of the Notables of 1787, the forthcoming Estates General are the least of their worries. This is the change that matters and the rest does not really affect them. In this telling, the Saint-Azurs’ revolution does not begin in 1789 but in 1788 when the Count and his three daughters are driven out of their castle because of a convoluted story of inheritance. The approach was tongue-in-cheek, with a soundtrack inspired by Queen and Muse. The plot revolves around the Saint-Azurs, a noble family ensconsed in an estate near Bordeaux. In January 2011 France 3 broadcast a 6-part miniseries, 1788 et demi, created by Martine Moriconi and Sylvain Saada.

How can one explain this renewal? What ideas do these fictions convey? Two television dramas broadcast on French public television in 20 will help shed some light on the issue.ġ788 et demi, an eye on the pre-Revolution that forestalls teleology How do things look twenty years on? French television producers are showing renewed interest in the period but not necessarily within the same narrative structure. It should be noted that although the series has become a standard reference, it had only a lukewarm reception in 1989 the drama was shown at the end of the year when audiences were probably saturated with bicentennial celebrations. Indeed, its two distinct “phases” (as each part is called) argued that there were actually two revolutions, a good and a bad one, expressing, as some put it, a “Girondist” point of view. When it came out, the series was accused of conveying the new “consensus” on the Revolution. Perhaps the most famous is the two-part La Révolution, Les Années Lumières and Les Années terribles, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of National Education. A number of television productions were aired in 1989 to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

La revolution francaise soundtrack