6. A view from the margins of history Histories are as perfect as the Historian is wise, and is gifted with an eye and a soul! [...] The Art of History [is to] distinguish well what does still reach to the surface, and is alive and frondent for us; and what reaches no longer to the surface, hut moulders safe underground, never to send forth leaves or fruit for mankind any more: of the former we shall rejoice to hear; to hear of the Litter will be an affliction to us; of the latter only Pedants and Dullards, and disastrous malefactors to the world, will find good to speak. By wise memory and by wise oblivion: it lies all there! Without oblivion, there is no remembrance possible. When both oblivion and memory arc wise, when the general soul of man is clear, melodious, true, there may come a modern Iliad as memorial of the Past (Carlyle 1845:1/9)- 6.1 Introduction Gance's desire for factual credence is highly visible in Napoleon, but his numerous historical citations have often been seen as 'a misguided attempt to invoke the mantle of authority' (Abel 1984:432). Indeed, Gance later thought his fundamental 'error' in Napoleon was 'the abuse of documentation': 'I lost popular appeal in trying to be accurate and searching for authentic detail. The power of La Roue and J'accuse resides in the absence of the authenticated' (i928d). Yet these 'unauthenticated' elements of Napoleon were often the first targets of those wishing to reduce the film's immense length. This was particularly the case with the fictional Fleuri family: the scenes involving Tristan, Violine, and Marcellin have suffered the most from deliberate excision and derisive critical consideration. After attending an early preview screening, Jean Arroy urged Gance to cut the majority of material involving the Fleuris (Brownlow [1983] 2004:135). Gance followed this advice in preparing his film for the Opera but later reinstated their scenes in the longer Apollo prints. Given the choice between these two divergent editions (and numerous other incomplete prints), modern restorers have often disregarded the Fleuris during the process of reconstruction. Despite the best efforts of editors and Bonaparte's stubborn blindness to them, the Fleuris remain embedded in the textual substance of Napoleon - perennially struggling to make their presence known. These characters demonstrate the playful interaction of humour and pathos, of fact and Cut). Paul. A Revolution tor me Screen Abel Gance s Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press. 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central. http //erxK*central.pfoquesLcom^ib/mzk/detail.action?(JoclD=3563353. Created from mzk on 2020-01-29 05:17 38. 160 A HI VOI UFION f OR IMF '.CHFF N fiction, which is so crucial to understanding dance's film as a whole. Their relationship with Bonaparte forms an important link hetween the 'great man' and the forgotten figures of history, as well as the ronnerf ion between characters and audience. In Marco Form's terms, dance balances the lofty perspective of epic history with the 'counterweight' of an everyday history seen from below' (1977: 73). It is this relationship between the 'great' and the little'within NAPOi.fcON that I will explore in this chapter. 6.2 Oblivion and remembrance For all that my study has thus far concentrated on grandiloquent conceptions of world destiny, it is essential to note Romantic writers' concerns with the neglected levels of factual detail underpinning human history. Hugo fills an entire chapter of Lea Miserable* with a vast list of seemingly unimportant information relating to France in the year his narrative is set; he titles this section of the book simply: 'The Year 1817'. Even to readers in 1862, this epic jumble of fragmentary evidence was utterly obscure. Hugo was making a deliberate point by interrupting his narrative for a chapter of pure 'history': History neglects all these minutiae: it cannot do otherwise; infinity would engulf it. Nevertheless, these details, which are incorrectly termed little (there being neither little facts in humanity nor little leaves in vegetation), are useful. It is the physiognomy of the years that makes up the face of the century (1862:1/292). These ideas about the importance of'insignificant' aspects of the past are as concerned with human beings as with abstract details. Though his work often vindicated the role of the 'great man' in history, Carlyle admitted that the 'worthiest' individual act is often 'the least spoken of by historians and that 'it lies in the nature of events to be so' (1833: 586-7). Like Carlyle, dance seeks to acknowledge the 'worthy' unknown figures of the past in Napoleon - the Fleuri family is exemplary of this desire. The importance of these characters is obvious from dance's 1923 outline for his six-film Napoleonic cycle. The Fleuris' story is designed to humanize the grandiose narrative and to cement a relationship between audiences and the inhabitants of the past: While portraying great and recognized truths, I am also introducing a forceful human element into my film [...] which will perhaps make an Cutf. Paul. A Revolution lot the Screen Abel Gance't Napoleon. Amsterdam Unrvereity Ptes«. 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central. nnp//ebookcentral.proqu«i.com/lib/m/k/(leta« aclion?doclo-3563353. Created from mzk on 2020-01-2» OS 17 38 A VIEW FROM THE MARGINS Of HISTORY 161 even greater appeal (o (he heart than the revealed truths will make to the mind [...] [From their] humhle positions (...) two pairs of the most vigilant, attentive, and devoted eyes watch every phase of the great tragedy. [Tristan and Violine] will also serve as connecting links throughout [...] the various events of the Empire, which might otherwise be rather confusing to the spectator (Gance 1923a). Throughout the six films, Tristan and Violine were to honour Bonaparte with an admiration whose 'strength and nobility' were 'to touch the deepest chords in the audiences' hearts' (ibid.). Having met the child Bonaparte at Brienne, Tristan develops a 'profound spirit of love and sacrifice' for his idol as an adult. Unbeknownst to him, however, Violine falls romantically in love with Bonaparte when she meets him in Paris. So deep is her infatuation that she attempts suicide after Bonaparte's marriage in March 1796 - only to be rescued by the wife of her beloved. Whilst Violine becomes Josephine's maid in Paris, Tristan becomes Bonaparte's valet during the campaign in Italy. As a servant, Tristan is shy and stammers hopelessly when addressing his master; however, at night he goes out in disguise to perform daring raids on the Austrian army. Always vanishing before his identity can be revealed, Tristan's heroic alter ego becomes known as the 'Phantom Grenadier'. He is eventually joined in Italy by Violine, whose romantic obsession with Bonaparte is discovered by her mistress. Just as Josephine promises not to reveal Violine's secret after her dismissal, so Violine now promises not to reveal that Tristan is the Phantom Grenadier. Gance planned for these two figures to follow in the footsteps of Bonaparte's career, but always at a distance. Tristan is of too lowly a status to attend his hero's imperial coronation in December 1804; instead, he watches a recreation-in-miniature of the ceremony - 'weeping for joy' as he beholds the marionettes on their decorative stage (ibid.). As the Phantom Grenadier, Tristan goes on to earn the prestigious Legion d'Honneur at the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805, but he daren't come forward to claim his medal - 'Fate seems to be against him' ever earning recognition. When Bonaparte divorces Josephine in 1810 and marries the Austrian princess Marie-Louise, Violine is left distraught - her infatuation is 'slowly killing her' (ibid.). The 'turning wheel of war' once more drags both Fleuris into Bonaparte's final military campaigns. During the invasion of Russia in 1812, Violine's emotional and physical health declines. In what was to be 'one of the most moving passages of the film', she dies of exhaustion during the disastrous winter retreat: 'her hopeless love finally fulfilled what had long Cufl. Paul A Revolution lor the Screen Abel Gance's Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press. 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http//•bookcentral.pf oquest.com/lib/mzk/delajl. action ?doclD=3S633S3. Created from mzk on 2020-01-29 OS 17:38. 162 A Bf VOLUTION FOO THE SCREEN beer inevitable'. She wishes to see Bonaparte, so Tristan dresses as the Emperor and pretends to be her idol, giving Violině the vision she rraves'. Bonaparte happens to pass by and 'his eagle glance falls on the figure of his double'; he is initially angry, but when he sees the emotion on Tristan'* face and the valet explains the situation, he realizes Violine's devotion. He takes her hands and 'kisses them reverentially', allowing the girl to die happy (ibid). At the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, Tristan appears as the Phantom Grenadier in daylight. Advancing with the elite Imperial Guard at the climax of the battle, he is wounded in their last stand; his identity is finally revealed and Bonaparte decorates him in the dying moments of the battle. Tristan then accompanies Bonaparte into exile on St Helena, where the two men become close friends. In May 1821, Tristan dresses in his old uniform for the last time - it is 'the supreme moment' of the dying eagle'. Knowing that Bonaparte is moments from death, Tristan breaks free of the British guards and rushes towards the island's highest cliff. Crying out 'Long live the Emperor!', he throws himself into the sea at the very moment Bonaparte passes away (ibid.). When Gance began writing the full screenplay of his first episodes in 1924, he devoted more time to a third member of the Fleuri family: Tristan's son, Marcellin. An important variation on the 1923 outline, this child was to provide a further level of emotional engagement with audiences. In one draft of the screenplay dealing with the climax of the Italian campaign in November 1796, Bonaparte's victory at Arcole is offset by the death of Marcellin, who is killed during the battle. A miraculous military success would be poignantly undercut by Tristan and Violině mourning the loss of this small child (1924c). Clear from his plans of 1923 and 1924 is that Gance wanted to devote as large a proportion of the narrative to the Fleuris' lives as to the biography of Bonaparte. When he cast the role of Tristan in 1924, he chose a figuře who was very popular with contemporary audiences: Nicolas Koline. This highly experienced actor had built his career on the stage at the Moscow Art Theatre and earned the approval of its legendary founder, Konstantin Stan-islavski (V.R. 1923:9). Leaving Russia during the country's bloody Civil War, Koline arrived in Paris and began working in the film industry alongside other emigres, such as Viacheslav Tourjansky, Alexander Volkoff, and Ivan Mosjoukine. Though capable of dramatic characterizations, his most common part was that of a confidant/sidekick to the lead character; his ability to imbue comedy with pathos in such roles had earned Koline comparisons with Charlie Chaplin in the French press (Brownlow [1983] 2004:39)- Prior ! Cuff. Paul A Revolution lor the Screen Abel Gances Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press. 2015 ProQuesi Ebook Central Created from mzk on 2020-01-29 05.17.38. A VIEW r ROM IHf MARC.INs 01 HISTORY to NAPOi.fcON. Game had earmarked the Riisslnn In play Simrho Pan/a alongside I lie American artnr Frank Keenan as I >nn (Juixotr in a cinematic arlnptation of Miguel <>n. the Heuns have the ability 'to move at will through time and space, obeying no other logic than fantasy and coincidence' (King 1984a: 153). Swapping between various ancillary jobs over the course of Natol^on. Tristan appears as a scullion, a street cleaner, an innkeeper, a prison guard, a book clerk, a waiter, and a soldier. The low-level nature of his employment brings him into regular contact with the minutiae of historical events and figures as well as wit h the documentation that attempts to record and control them. This improbable access to disparate narrative events replicates the privileged position of the film's spectators; by using the Fleuris as witnesses in this way, Gance carefully emphasizes the tension between the desire to participate and the reality of distanced observation. The Fleuris' interaction with the central great man' involves a mixture of intimacy and isolation: whilst constantly running into Bonaparte, they never manage to communicate their existence or their love to him. Tristan's first appearance in the film is at Brienne College, but the rest of his family are not introduced until we have met the adult Bonaparte. Whilst close-ups of every Fleuri feature in the single-frame montage of the Cordeliers sequence, no evidence survives of their appearance in the preceding scenes. Also missing are the subsequent scenes in which Tristan and Violine find themselves as Bonaparte's neighbours in an impoverished district of Paris. This excised material unfortunately contains the first meeting of Violine and Bonaparte as well as the establishment of their sharing the latter's lowly social status. By the time we meet the Fleuris again at Toulon in September 1793, over a year has passed since the aforementioned scenes: whilst they still make a meagre living as servants, Bonaparte is now a lieutenant and will soon make his reputation. Tristan, Violine, and Marcellin have been displaced by the events of war and now run an inn on the outskirts of Toulon. In Gance's screenplay, there are a number of striking scenes which he later cut from the film. Before we are introduced to the military aspect of the siege, we were to see Violine contemplating 'the soul ofjoan of Arc [...] within her' (Gance 1927b: 240). This famous medieval warrior and martyr had been invoked during the 'Insurrection of women' in October 1789, when thousands of French Cu«. Paul A Revotuoon (or the Screen Abel Gance's Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press, 2015 ProQuesi Ebook Central. ritipy/»te33S3. Created Irofn rry* on 2020-01-2« 06 17 38 A VII W I MOM i 111 MAHi.IN'i 01 HI'. C/M I | I s a. a staff at hl«li speed, desperately trying to keep ■table hi* tray of drinks Kollnc's ability to disguise hi* own perfe. tly rehearsed balance, pots*, and timing II clumsy Improvisation Is brilliant throughout this srene and crucial to our sympathy for this well meaning character who cannot help his own clownishncss. Now Bonaparte appears in the doorway, his form outlined in striking silhouette as he pauses on the threshold before striding confidently into the inn. As if to emphasizx-1 he officer's emblematic entrance, Gance cuts to the only figures who yet recognize his importance: the FIcuris. Bonaparte's assertive appearance is a counterbalance to Tristan's own entrance into the frame earlier in the scene, and the contrast between orderliness and confusion underpins the rest of the sequence (and the wider context of the Toulon campaign itself). Bonaparte reports to General Carteaux and reveals his radical plans for the storming of the English positions. Carteaux's arrogant dismissal of the young man's ideas is interrupted by shellftre-, whilst Bonaparte keeps perfectly calm, the general and his staff flee the inn. Bonaparte is left alone and sits down at a table to study his maps. The whole Fleuri family are now left to attend him: Violine shyly keeps her distance, but Tristan and Marcellin approach the young officer. Determined to remind him of their first encounter, Tristan stammers that he was at Brienne. Without acknowledging the content of his words at all, Bonaparte replies bluntly: 'Bread, olives, and silence!' Tristan looks taken aback but dutifully obeys this command. Returning with a plate of food, he places it on Bonaparte's map, but (thanks to the bombardment; the table has a missing plank in its centre and the plate falls straight through onto the floor. Tristan fearfully starts back - instinctively saluting as Bonaparte rises in irritation and walks away. Whilst he paces the room, lost in thought, Marcellin puts on Bonaparte's discarded hat and takes up his sword. Mimicking the adult with marvellous accuracy, the child shadows Bonaparte up and down the room - delightfully replicating Bonaparte's ponderous gait and thoughtfully clasped hands behind his back. Having tried to tidy up the mess. Tristan now spots his son's actions and quickly lifts him out of the officer's path - returning the hat and sword to the table. As Bonaparte reaches the bench and sits down once more, father and son hurriedly break off their routine to salute. The officer, absorbed in his calculations, is oblivious to their comic turn. Though Tristan is far keener to approach Bonaparte, the officer is hardly any less rude towards him than the self-absorbed Carteaux. The scene is a testament to the way in which Bonaparte will increasingly communicate to others through brusque commands rather than through an exchange Cud. Paul A Revolution tor Ibe Screen Abel Gance't Napoleon. Amwerdam Urwerviy Presv 2015 ProOue« Ebooa Ce*»m hnpv/eboottcenr/al.proquestconrvlti/mzlo'detajl action?doclD-35*3353 Created from mzk on 2020-01-29 05.17.38. of conversation. Ills words Bread, olives, mid tllem <• are <■< lined u, , |,,i« , scene at Toulon when lie demands t aim, tin lir, -.I lent c from tin other off u ers. Bonaparte's coldness towards Tristan 1« part of the military orderliness that chatai in i/.es him as a military lender Ity devoting ho mti< li hrnr to his unsympathetic treatmenl ol the sympathetic Fleurii, f,anfe reveal* Bonapai tc's growing distance from ordinary human « onl.i' i Aside from its humorous play on Bonaparte'* Iconography, Ganc «•'« wrnr at the Toulon inn also foreshadows the repealed attempts of Mar"-llin and Tristan to don uniform and enact military heroic*. In a icenc »et at Toulon called 'The mobilization of Tristan l;leuri' (now missing from print \), Tristan's hopes of a glorious military career are Hashed: A gendarme delivers an envelope to Tristan. He calls Viol me and Marr < I lin. who run to his side. He trembles with joy. Me doesn't dare open it. I If eyes it greedily, and as he does so he sees: The letter. Superimposed, a tiny general, Tristan Fleurl, capering absurdly. His bliss. His hands are shaking too much he cant open the envelope; he asks Violine to do it, who reads in astonishment: Citizen Tristan F'lenn is appointed cook to the armies of the Republic and...' Fleuri. Expression like Don Quixote's on realizing that Mambnno's helmet was a barber's basin, and two tears well up in his poor eyes. He is too despondent to speak (Gance 1927b: 170-1). Marcellin emerges from his room 'dragging a long sabre'. He stamps his foot in indignation at the news and then leaves. Tristan breaks down in tears and Violine tries to comfort him. Such a poignant tension between comedy and tragedy is typical of Tristan's increasingly desperate attempts to aid his country and his hero. Marcellin also tries to involve himself with the army at Toulon. He is present in one of Bonaparte's inspection parades, where he stands in line wearing a grenadier's bearskin. Passing along the line, Bonaparte sees the child's tiny face peeking out from under this huge hat. He stops and lifts up the bearskin, thumping it down again so that the boy's whole head disappears. 'Too short!' Bonaparte bellows. He marches away, leaving Marcellin to cry in humiliation as the other soldiers laugh. Later, on the night of the battle, Marcellin has become a drummer and stands with his older comrades in the midst of a flooded mire. He asks Moustache (Henry Krauss): 'How old was the little drummer boy Viala when he died?' 'Thirteen', the older man replies. After counting on his fingers, Marcellin gleefully announces: What luck! I've still got six years to live!' This bleakly ironic humour undercuts the Cuff. Pau. A Revotuwxi for the Screen . Abel Gancei Napoleon. Amsterdam University Ptess. 2015. ProQuest Ebook Genital. http//vbookcentral.proqueM com/lib/rn/k/dela> action?duclO=35833b3 Created from nvk on 202O-01-29 05 17 38 A VII W I HOM 1 HI MAIi..IN-, mi IIIMI.IM MtVa enthusiasm Ol Ills partlt Ipat Inn In wnr mid forcOiwdow* the child'* death at Arrolr, an planned In the IfM drnft ncrrrnplay DUlIng llii' h.iflle nl Toulon, Tllstan and Vlnllnc it-main mnrc detai hcrl from the fighting. They ht'lp load muskets In (licit inn, unci from their window mmlouVlfig tin' town Irlitin links the fighting back to thf mowhaii fi^M he witnessed nl Brlrnniv This |nylnl Ptl nllci tlOfl of childhood irniof fj|| < is inli-M upted l>\ I he s.iv.tyr I n; III in j; iniiiin)' ever ( Immt In flic llcuris' distanced ohsei vat inn finally, reality (in the form of firmed men; spills through the window (runic nnd transforms the spectacle Into nightmarish proximity. ThOUgh the surviving montage does not show how or where the Fleuris move in/around the battlefield, we later see Marrellin trying to take paM in the lighting. In a flooded field, he hides undera drum and frightens I wo English soldiers hy moving eerily though the morass; when a drunken officer then comes and sits clown on top of his instrument, Marcellin pricks the man's hackside with fl hayonet. Such humorous touches provide a stark contrast to the increasingly vicious scenes of hand-to-hand fighting. Tristan manages to extricate Marcellin, and he and Violine appear at the climax of the hattle to witness Bonaparte's bravery. On the fringes of this momentous occasion, the Fleuris endow the officer's actions with historical value. Long before General Dugommier announces Bonaparte to be "the victor of Toulon', it is Violine who prophesizes: 'I helieve (hat man will save France!' 6.4 Documentation and survival The scenes at Toulon demonstrate the ways in which the Fleuris both observe and interact with the history around them, and these ideas are developed in the subsequent scenes set during the Terror. Among the missing scenes after the fall of Toulon, Violine narrowly escapes being executed along with hundreds of other civilians (detailed in chapter 4). Having been saved from an unwanted involvement in the events they witness, the Fleuris next appear in Paris - yet again negotiating the perils of participation. At Les Carmes prison in 1794, Tristan appears as a prison guard who announces 'the roll call for the condemned'. His presence gives the scene an added level of emotional irony: the words of this gentle character spell imminent death, and he gulps back tears as he pronounces the name of each victim. Tristan subsequently appears as a clerk in charge of copying out the lists of the condemned. The strange underworld of this documentation room is a gloomily lit space where Tristan and his co-worker La Bussiere Cult. Paul A Revolution for Die Screen Abel Gance's Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press. 2015 ProQiiesi Ebook Central. hrtp7'*lx>c*cefttal proque«.cornAt>/m/lc/d*t*il action?doclD-3583353. Created from mzk on 2020-01-2» 05 17 38 170 A HtVOIuriON t')f nil '.r (/((,< Fig. 31: Green-Eye oversees the listing of condemned names (Jean d'Yd) go about their morbid task (Figure 31). Tristan's companion is a historical figure whose life and deeds exist somewhere between fact and fiction. His actions during the Terror were entirely forgotten until 1802, when two journalists mentioned his story in a history of the French theatre (Etienne/Martainville 1802: III/146-8). After growing interest from the press, La Bussiere published his own account in 1803. According to this, he hid the files of prisoners due to be executed and later disposed of them by soaking the papers in water, rolling up the remains into balls, and jettisoning these pellets into the river Seine. In this way, he claimed to have made 1153 files disappear (La Bussiere 1803: 3-4). In Napoleon, Jean d'Yd's character uses a more visually striking method. A title announces: 'Fortunately, La Bussiere is on the lookout, this strange character who, out of humanity appointed himself an eater of documents.' We see him find the dossier on Josephine de Beauharnais. Relaying our own curiosity about what La Bussiere is about to do, Tristan watches with mounting interest as his friend carefully tears up the paper and feeds the strips into his mouth. Whilst La Bussiere laboriously chews and swallows this documentation, he lowers his head below a pile of files on his desk and checks to see if the ferocious Green-Eye is watching. Tristan tries to Cult. Paul. A Revolution lor the Screen : Abel Gances Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press. 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central. http;/eboc*cential.ptoques(.com/lib/m/k/dela(.action?doclD-3563353. Created trom mzk on 2020-01-29 05:17 38. A VIEW FROM THE MARGINS Or HISTORY 171 mimic this method on his own dossiers but bites off too large a chunk - he chokes on its cardboard sleeve and has to spit out the remains. He smooths out the chewed corner on his desk and continues to copy down the details, whispering to his neighbour: 'You're lucky you can digest them. I just can't manage it.' Tristan's despondency quickly changes to eagerness when he sees Bonaparte's hie: Eat this one as well', he pleads. La Bussiere motions that his throat is too dry, so Tristan starts tearing up the file and furtively slipping pieces under his collar, whilst busily chewing others. This brilliant scene has a delightful sense of comic absurdity, one sharpened by the horrific circumstances in which it is set. The actions of these two characters are interrupted at the height of their hilarity by the arrival of Saint-Just and the threat of discovery. This sequence was lengthier in early drafts of Gance's screenplay but also more verbal. Violine arrives in the documents room and asks La Bussiere what he is eating. 'An old man of 92', he replies. Violine turns to her father: 'And you, Papa?' Tristan ecstatically exclaims: 'I've rolled a young girl of seventeen up into little balls!' (Gance 19241) In a later revision, Gance changed these lines; here, La Bussiere first replies: 'An old man of 92 and a beautiful woman called Josephine, aged 30.' Tristan then says: 'I've rolled up Napoleon into little balls!' Later, La Bussiere comments on Tristan's grumbling stomach: 'Your old man's giving you trouble! Drink something!' (Gance 1924J) Though these individual lines are wonderfully funny, Gance wisely chose to concentrate on the possibilities of visual humour in the realized film. After the fall of Robespierre, the soldiers who ransack the documents room scatter the files across the floor. For once, Tristan's habit of going unnoticed serves him well: he hides under his desk and covers himself in a big pile of documentation. Like the semi-mythical deeds of La Bussiere, Tristan manages to get (quite literally) lost in the paperwork. As befits characters whose lives have been written into (or out of) existence by curious historians or authors, Gance's scene suggests that individuals can be preserved or destroyed through their presence on paper. Hugo famously declared: A name is a Me' (1862: X/158). In the original French, this phonetic pun ('Un nom'/'Un homme': a man/a name) suggests the signifier of identity is the owner's protection from oblivion: to be anonymous is to cease to exist. In Notre-Dame de Paris, the numerous images of crumbling inscriptions point to the ananke of physical decay and the irreparable loss of human identity. Similarly, the narrator of Hugo's 1829 novel Le Dernier Jour dun Condamn6 is a nameless victim counting down the days to his execution. He is a symbol of the numberless individuals killed by the state, and this Cufl. Paul. A Revolution tor the Screen Abel Gance s Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press. 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central. '"I.■ .7>-r.'.',w .-"r.,i „,,i | I, .I,/'../I-/-]. I ,n ... in,,, M< .. II , I' I. I I'. 1 Created Irom m*k on 2020-01-29 OS 17 38 1 A REVOLUTION fOR THE SCREEN incomplete manuscript forms the only surviving evidence of his existence. Similarly, the document room of Napoleon is a site where human life is reduced to lists of names awaiting erasure. This idea of decay was a wider concern of Romantic literature. Carlyle took up the issue of documentary disintegration in the introduction to his edition of Oliver Cromwell's letters and speeches. Reflecting on the fate of physical evidence, he relates how he was shown a pile of 50,000 pamphlets from the English Civil War that lay rotting in the British Museum: But alas [...] what is it, all this (...) inarticulate rubbish-continent, in its ghastly dim twilight, with its haggard wrecks and pale shadows; what is it, but the common Kingdom of Death? This is what we call Death, this mouldering dumb wilderness of things once alive. Behold here the final evanescence of Formed human things; they had form, but they are changing into sheer formlessness; - ancient human speech itself has sunk into unintelligible maundering. This is the collapse, - the etiolation of human features into mouldy blank; dissolution; progress towards utter silence and disappearance; disastrous ever-deepening Dusk of Gods and Men! (Carlyle 1845:1/11). Ironically, the consumption of documents in Napoleon is an act of conservation. Tristan eats the evidence and saves lives by removing names from the nightmarish bureaucracy of the Terror. Gance's resurrection of La Bussiere is also an act of salvation from obscurity. After a benefit performance of Hamlet in his honour in 1803, La Bussiere was given a large sum of money byjosephine as thanks for having 'eaten' her condemnation and thus saved her from the guillotine (Masson 1898: 233). However, despite this show of generosity, La Bussiere ended his days penniless and partially paralysed, dying in a madhouse in 1808 - 'entirely forgotten even by those for whom he had most risked his life' (Michaud 1843-65: XXII/328). Elsewhere in Gance's films, the secrets, confessions, and identities conveyed and revealed in various pieces of paperwork often serve as key narrative devices. In La Dixieme Symphonie, Eve wants to destroy a document that is being used to blackmail her so that she can overcome her past and start a new life. In the 1919 Jaccuse, Diaz's final gesture is to destroy the book of his own poetry once he has lost all connection to his pre-war identity. (Even the opening image of Jaccuse spells out the film's title in blood-dripping letters across a torn piece of paper.) In La Roue, Sisif's secret adoption of Norma is possible only when he finds and destroys the charred fragment of documentary evidence revealing Norma's former °* It" .fH**"**™ ta °* SCTe*n Napoleon. Armierdam Umverwty Pre.i 2015 ProQue* Ebook Central. rmpy/eoookcentral proquev tom^b/m/Wd«UU.artion?dodl>"J66J3Si Created trom m/k on 2020-01-29 05 17 38. A VII W I KOM Í Ml MA H'. IN'. OI MIMOMY life. This is e< hoed when In-, '.on 1,1 le lali-r uses fiiinlly áOi MM IfM .M |Ofl to ronlront Sisil about Noi ma's adopt Ion Finally, a hidden love letter from File to Norma triggers his lat a I«otifront.it Ion with bil romantu rival de I hrnan. Whether t hrough sci tec y or revelation, paper evideru c often determine , the protagonists' fates. Though such issues are notahly demons! rated in the scenes with Tristan and l.a Bussicre, there are tit her ( omu variations on the f hřme of inscription and documentation in Napoi.í«)N. At the start of the f.ordeliers sequences, for example, we see two guards on duty out side the door to (he Three finds' room. The standing figure has all i he appcarani e of a brutal ;arr. < ulollc militiaman. Yet the first thing the camera makes us observe, with an iris for emphasis, is the spelling mistake of the huge tattoo the joiarrl lias on his chest. The slogan reads: 'Mort au tirans' ('Death to tirants' fsicj). This guard and his companion are also the focus of another visual joke when de Lisle teaches La Mursdlluisc to the crowd. As the words of the song are handed out on large sheets of paper, the two guards bicker over which way up to hold their sheet - neither knows how to read and so cannot begin to decipher the words on the page. Such moments show the power of Gance's historical imagination to bring a large crowd scene to life through the use of inventive and delightfully humanizing details. Though neither the guards nor the Fleuris have their names recorded in any factual history of the Revolution, they form part of the single, unitive burst of communal spirit that forms the climax of this sequence. In the most positive example of individual selflessness, their anonymity is transformed through cinema into a shared identity - just as La Bussiere forms part of Gance's collective resurrection. 6.5 Forlorn recognition Though all the Fleuris survive the political sea change after the Terror, they arc still in the lowly positions they have possessed since the start of the film. The focus on their subsequent appearances is the tragic inability to bridge the divide between their lives and that of Bonaparte, for whom they show an enduring love. A particularly noteworthy incident that captures the Isolation ofTristan from his hero occurs after Bonaparte has saved Paris from the Royalist 'Vendémiaire Uprising' of October 1795. A swelling crowd of well wishers has trapped Bonaparte in his garret, from where he acknowledges the mass of people below by waving from his window. Tristan Is amongst Cull, Paul A RevoMmn lor trw Stfeen AM OHM* Napoleon. A/mi.rdam Unrv.rury P,... 201» ProQunt Um* Central. nnp//•bookcanttal.proqum r«om/l*>ím/Wrlel»< «< l.on79-ao). Cutf. Paul A Revolution for lha Scram : AM Ganca'i Napoleon. Ameurdam Urtveraity Preae, 201S ProQueii Ebook htlp/fetjookr.»ntial proquMI.uim/lib/rn/kAlatai action VdoclO-JSimM. Created from mzk on 2020-01-2» 06 17.M. A Vlf W f ROM TMf MARGINS Of HISTORY 177 6.6 Summary The Fleuris are representative of forgotten figures in history's vast drama: inhabitants fin Carlyle's terms) of the dark untenanted places of the past' (1830: 414). These characters provide an alternative perspective on Bonaparte exemplified by the numerous scenes in which they are framed as witnesses: Tristan looks on from the kitchen window at the snowball fight of Briennc; Tristan and Violine see the Battle of Toulon from the window of their inn; Violine and Marcellin observe the events of Thermidor from the gallery of the Convention; Violine watches Bonaparte depart for the Italian campaign from her bedroom window. Whilst the Fleuris have rightly been seen as 'points of identification, centres of humorous and sentimental interest' that bind the action of Napoleon together' (King 1984a: 154), the complexity of their role has been consistently underestimated. Norman King argues that the Fleuris' 'naive enthusiasm and devotion' encourages audiences to be less questioning, effectively limiting our interpretive freedom: [They] help to resolve what might be a troublesome contradiction, by providing the foundation of [Bonaparte's] power [...] It is their instinctive recognition that Bonaparte is serving the interests of the people by reconciling freedom and order that legitimates his actions (ibid.: 155). Yet this interpretation cannot be reconciled with the details of the film itself. Bonaparte's incorruptibility is not as clear-cut as King suggests, nor do the Fleuris offer simplistic legitimation of his authority. Gance deliberately emphasizes 'troublesome' contradictions by interrogating Bonaparte's messianic status and exploring the deeply ambiguous nature of his relationship to the adoring Fleuris. The great man may fire the enthusiasm of crowds and control huge bodies of men, but he neglects those characters with whom the audience most strongly identifies: it is the Fleuris that suffer most noticeably from Bonaparte's rise to power. Gance was hardly more kind to these characters in later versions of his Napoleonic narrative. There is no mention of the Fleuris in the 1927-8 screenplay for Sainte-Helene, suggesting they had been written out of his plans. Koline does appear as Tristan in Gance's 1935 film Napoleon Bonapakte, set in March 1815, though Violine and Marcellin are entirely absent. Tristan has been blinded at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800 -ironically, the man who always observed events without ever being noticed can no longer see. In his subsequent negligence of Tristan, Violine, and C>*' ££££££££ *** (~r"t Amiwdam Unwu* Press. 2015 ProQuest Ebook Cermaj. Cfe«M»1 fcom ma on 2020-01-» 05 17 iti A REVOI UTION FOR THE SCREEN Ma reel) in, Gancc followed those editors who were keen to excise these intriguing characters from the original 1927 film. If Napoi.6on does want audiences'to he like [the Flcuris|' (ibid.: 163), then it demands that we reflect on our spectatorship - and consider the importance of characters so often marginalized in appreciations of the film. Their battle to claim recognition is central to the narrative of Napolecon, just as their presence is crucial to the film's textual coherence. •-» 8 Cuff. Paul. A Revolution lot the Screen : Abel Gances Napoleon. Amsterdam University Press. 2015. ProQuest Ebooh Central. http 7/ebookcentral.proquest-Com/llb/m/kydela*.ac1lon?doclO= 3563353. Created from mzk on 2020-01-29 05.17:38.