© 2026 The Couch Critic
Status
Released
Release
1978
Runtime
2h 15m
Three episodes from the history of socialism: Babeuf, whose virulent discourse is a radical assessment of the bourgeois revolution of 1789 (Vincent Nordon episode); the legend of Napoleon I, or the formation of the state as it still dominates today (François Barat episode); and the carnage of the Paris Commune, which official history strives to repress and forget (Joël Farges episode). What does it mean to make a historical film today? It means illuminating the present in the light of the past, and therefore adopting the new modes of modern storytelling to challenge what dominates us, structures us, and oppresses us.
41 Cast Members
Sami Frey
Babeuf (segment "Babeuf")
Brigitte Fossey
Andrée Léo (segment "La semaine sanglante")
Julie Delpy
(segment "La semaine sanglante")
Rosine Cadoret
Innkeeper (segment "Premier empire")
Didier Bezace
Actor (segment "Premier empire")
Marc de Jonge
Allied commissioner (segment "Premier empire")
Philippe Collin
Napoléon (segment "Premier empire")
Georges Azenstarck
Photographer (segment "La semaine sanglante")
Anne Wiazemsky
Elisabeth Dimitrieff (segment "La semaine sanglante")
Pierre Vial
Thiers (segment "La semaine sanglante")
Albert Delpy
(segment "La semaine sanglante")
Catherine Jourdan
(segment "Premier empire") (voice)
Jean Lescot
Secretary of Thiers (segment "La semaine sanglante")
Gérard Boucaron
Undertaker (segment "La semaine sanglante")
Didier Haudepin
Engineer of the three barricades (segment "La semaine sanglante")
Nicole Hiss
Young woman (segment "Premier empire")
Martine Bertrand
Peasant woman (segment "Premier empire")
Gilles Raab
Allied commissioner (segment "Premier empire")
Romain
Soldier (segment "Premier empire")
Colette Fellous
Pauline Bonaparte (segment "Premier empire")
