“Une force qui va”: Reflections on Gérard Depardieu in <i>Danton</i>

Taking as its starting point a 1978 article by film critic Molly Haskell, in which she described Gérard Depardieu “tactile […] grasping, eating, touching, coming to physical terms with everything sight”, this considers largely overlooked role, the committed revolutionary leader Georges Danton Andrzej Wajda’s (1983)—a historical role that reflects actor’s commitment relevance of Revolutionary politician and intellectual. By examining three key scenes, scrutinizes Depardieu’s acting style (body language, vocal delivery, movement choices) demonstrates he is new ways engaging ideological processes acting. In Danton, pivots between familiar set performative registers—physical menace self-regarding sensitivity, timidity flamboyance, innocence cunning—so performance ultimately serves timely reminder his enduring mythic status French cinema.