Le souper

Who makes the history? How, when and where are made the great decisions that decide the fate of countries, nations, individuals? These questions, which historians and philosophers have asked and debated fiercely for centuries, are elegantly answered in 'Le souper', Édouard Molinaro's 1992 film, a faithful screening of a play that enjoyed a great success in France. The film tells, in real time, about a meeting that presumably took place at midnight on July 7, 1815 between two great French dignitaries, a meeting that would decide the path to be taken by the history of France in the first half of the 19th century, after the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. And because we are in France, and the characters belonged to the upper social and political class, the meeting happened around a copious and refined dinner.

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord and Joseph Fouché were two of the highest dignitaries of the Napoleonic regime, two friends and also political opponents. Talleyrand had been, and will continue to be, the foreign minister and one of the greatest diplomats in history. Fouché had established the first political police force in history under Napoleon, extending its powers from fighting crime and maintaining order to large-scale surveillance of all those who could potentially jeopardize the stability of the rulers of the day. The two discuss in the less than two hours the dinner will last, not only the transition process but also who will be the future leader of France and the political system that will be adopted. Both are political survivors, opportunists and morally corrupt, but they are also endowed with brilliant minds and a certain sense of duty to France, provided, of course, that their roles and positions are maintained in any regime and with any king on the throne. It is uncertain if such a meeting really took place. If we are to believe what we see on screen, the fate of France depended more on the past of the two great manipulators and the power fights between them than on the wishes of the crowds that had gathered outside the palace where the meeting took place, whose protests and manifestations of rage are as as passing as the clouds that gather and the storm that breaks out on that sweltering night of July.

Those who are knowledgeable and passionate about the history of France at that time will enjoy watching this film. The dialogues are interesting and lively, but some details will escape the least initiated. The music of Vladimir Cosma is superb. The racy Claude Rich and the more plebeian Claude Brasseur are 99% of the time on screen and are well suited for the roles of Talleyrand and Fouché. In fact, they had played the same roles in the stage version. As a cinematic experience, however, 'Le souper' doesn't offer much. It is a good history lesson, a recapitulation for some, presented in the form of filmed theater, with a spiritual dialogue that touches on issues related to the role in history of great personalities, but the camera does not venture apart from the luxurious palace and what it can be seen from its windows. It is, of course, enough for many, but too little for many others.

political animal that ever lived. Whoever was in power, he was in the background pulling strings. Actually much more than pulling strings. One must read his biography. Fouché is also a cunning and devious character. Having them sitting together in the same room is bliss to anyone interested in history. A word of warning, this is no documentary, and should you watch this film you need a solid base of history. If you do, it will be delightful. If not, only the devious aspect of the encounter will astound you, but you will be missing the crux of the story. Whether this supper actually took place, I do not know. But knowing both characters from history books,my bet is that it did take place. A while back, Sacha Guitry had made a film on Talleyrand, called " Diable Boiteux", not quite as accurate as this one, and more inclined to depict the man in a humorous way. Napoleon once told Talleyrand : " Sir, you are nothing but sh*t in a silk stocking." But he was much more as you will see watching this fantastic little gem.

Rich and Brasseur were made to perform the roles of Fouché and Talleyrand. Of course unless someone masters the French language foreigners will miss all the subtleties of the dialogue, not only the dialogue but also in the silences and looks of the two politicians one to the other. Rich was a fantastic actor and not long before he died he portrayed a remarkable Cardinal Mazarin in the play "Le diable rouge" (The red devil). As for Brasseur he's a great heir of his father's talent Pierre Brasseur.

The film is identical to the play, the actors are the same and the dialogues identical. It is a film sumptuous by its dialogues of exceptional quality, unfortunately, I doubt that the subtitles or a translation can make the extraordinary subtlety, which is the problem of many French films too based on sophisticated dialogues Untranslatable or whose flavor can not be rendered with a translation.