A dramatic metaphor for the revolutionary events unfolding in his native Poland, Andrzej Wajda's adaptation of Stanislawa Przybyszewska's play is a brilliant account of the struggle of the two leaders of the French Revolution to control the country's future. Gérard Depardieu stars as Danton, who has retired to his country estate after having been supplanted as head of the Committee for Public Safety by Robespierre (Wojciech Psoniak). But with the commencement of the Reign of Terror, Danton returns to Paris in November 1793 in the hope that he can stem the tide of bloodshed unleashed by his former ally. Confident that his rhetorical skills and the high esteem in which he is held by the French people will cause them to rise up against the brutal ruling regime, Danton is stunned to find them pauperized by the recent war with Austria and cowed by the ubiquity of Robespierre's minions. Behind closed doors, Danton's attempts to act as a mediator between warring factions are met with cold indifference by the rigidly obsessive Robespierre. Anchored by exceptional performances by Depardieu and Psoniak and featuring exceptional photography and art direction, Wajda's coruscating epic is a masterpiece of reimagined history.

An epic slice of French revolutionary history, DANTON depicts the struggle between the two leaders of the French Republic, Danton and Robespierre.

Produced in association with SFPC, Film Polski, X Production Group of Warsaw, with the participation of the Ministry of Culture (Paris) and Les Filmes Moliére.

DVD Features:

2-Disc Set
Region [unknown]
Keep Case
Special Edition
Widescreen - 1.66
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - French
Subtitles - English
Additional Release Material:
Interviews:
1. Andrzej Wajda, Director
2. Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter
3. Jerzy Plazewski, Film Critic
Trailers:
1. Original Theatrical Trailer
Documentary:
1. Wajda's DANTON
Text/Photo Galleries:
Essay:
1. Leonard Quart, Film Historian
Disc 1:
Disc 2:

Distributor Notes: Gerard Depardieu and Wojciech Pszoniak star in Andrzej Wajda's powerful, intimate depiction of the ideological clash between the earthy, man-of-the-people Georges Danton and icy Jacobin extemist Maximilien Robespierre, both key figures of the French Revolution. By drawing parallels to Polish 'solidarity,' a movement that was being quashed by the government as the film went into production, Wajda drags history into the present. Meticulous and fiery, Danton has been hailed as one of the greatest films ever made about the Terror.

Gérard Depardieu: French Actor/Director

Andrzej Wajda: Polish Director/Screenwriter

"...DANTON brilliantly illuminates one of the most fascinating periods of the French Revolution....A major work from this major film maker."
"[I]t's hard not to warm to Depardieu's performance. He is all warmth and instinct..."