Director-screenwriter Pierre Schoeller (CINEMANIA 2008 Prix du Public, Versailles) delivers a rich and captivating saga with an epic cast - the soundtrack and chiaroscuro lighting are lyrical, the visuals and costumes extraordinary. Schoeller captures the staggeringly complex French Revolution (1778-1793) in its full magnitude – the film is drenched in intense historical detail worthy of its colossal budget (shot where actual events took place). He crosses the destinies of the proletariat – “a Greek chorus” including glass-blower “Uncle” (Olivier Gourmet) and his wife (Naomie Lvovsky), washerwoman Francoise (Adele Haenel) and her lover Basile (Gaspard Ulliel) - with that of Louis XlV (Laurent Lafitte, regal and suitably condescending), and politician Robespierre, (Louis Garrel) declaiming in the new National Assembly.