Jade

new to frev fandom/fav:Saint-Just🪽

[jade-florelle]

Was watching La Terreur et la Vertu…Maximilien in this scene was too beautiful I just had to make a sketch

I cannot get over how serene they look<\3 they almost look like they’re smiling faintly, accepting their fates…

This scene reminds me of various catholic metaphors…the garden of Gethsemane…the descent from the cross…the angel cradling the sacrificial lamb…

[jade-florelle]

The festival of the Supreme Being is here! 💐 Praising reason? Maybe the healthiest cult I’ve ever heard...

[jade-florelle]

Thermidor is slowly approaching…

The gruesome scene where the executioner tore off the bandages to drop his jaw forever sticks in my mind :(

[jade-florelle]

All six Saint-Justs I’ve drawn so far! Can you spot them all? Who is your favorite SJ?

I love how no ugly bitch is ever allowed to play him xD

[alchemyfire]

They are all so pretty. I recognize only three of them. I don't think I even know six versions of him. :D

I like the second picture the most. Where is he from?

[jade-florelle]

thx!! the second one is from "La terreur et la Vertu" I colored the pic so maybe that's why you didn't recognize him😅

[jade-florelle]

All six Saint-Justs I’ve drawn so far! Can you spot them all? Who is your favorite SJ?

I love how no ugly bitch is ever allowed to play him xD

[jade-florelle]

Here’s Saint-Just (and bonus Maxilmilien) from “Un peuple et son Roi”

Maxime looks so cute with his impeccable wig and posture here!!

[saintjustitude]

Maxence Mailfort in Lazare Carnot ou le glaive de la Révolution (1978)

Now this Saint-Just is of course Thermidorized considering this is a Carnot movie, but there's something I love about him that completely disappeared after the 1980s. More than the way his curls bounce when he moves his head, which I obviously adore too.

He's not a brooding sulking attack dog like in La Révolution française: les années terribles or a petulant brat throwing a tantrum like in the BBC docudrama.

First of all, I feel that you can see Denis Manuel's influence from La Terreur et la Vertu. Now Manuel's performance is from the perspective of the Robespierristes, in the intimacy of a group where Saint-Just is more likely to drop his facade, much like Robespierre himself. It's very subtle in LTELV, but he's clearly acting different when he's at the CSP. There's something more rigid and formal, though it might be hard to catch. Unless you've watched it a million times like me.

Mailfort takes Manuel's performance and cranks up the arrogance, rigidity and coldness. That's the face he gives those he doesn't let inside his intimacy. That's also, arguably, the one he wanted to project publicly.

Most interesting is to compare the three different versions of the same scenes given by La Terreur et la Vertu, Saint-Just et la force des choses, and Lazare Carnot ou le glaive de la Révolution, most specifically the night of 8 to 9 thermidor. That's because they are all based on the exact same primary sources. Unless I forget one, there is only two accounts of that night, one found in a response written by Barère, Collot, Billaud, etc. and one by Prieur (de la Côte-d'Or) that Hippolyte Carnot put in the memoirs on his father. The aspects the movies decide to keep, to cut, or to change in their adaptation of the scene say a lot about how narratives are constructed.

Denis Manuel's is playing Saint-Just as he feels he might actually have been. Maxence Mailfort is playing the performance of Saint-Just that Saint-Just gave to the outside world. He understands his political theatricality. I feel that when you put them together, you get an idea of Saint-Just's fascinating, jarring personality the way Gateau and Lejeune described him.

The only other performance I know that rivals these is the one by Krzysztof Kwiatkowski in Edward Wojtaszek's 2015 adaptation of Thermidor. The original text by Stanisława Przybyszewska is... not always great. Much like Büchner, she has some strange interpretations that belong to her context - I mean, we know how Andrzej Wajda's Danton turned out. But Krzysztof Kwiatkowski really lifted the sometimes caricatural or archetypal Saint-Just who Przybyszewska wrote, and gave him depth in that he could switch from haughty coldness to manic vulnerability depending on who was around him (I'll let you guess). I think that's one of the greatest failures of Patrice Alexsandre. He just didn't embody this duality. His delivery of "je me consume de rage patriotique" is just...

...yeah.

Thuillier thinks it's hilarious. Thuillier should not think it's hilarious.

He can't just say that he's being consumed by patriotic rage: I have to feel it. Alexsandre's performance often feels a bit flat because he chose a middle ground that lacked both Mailfort's terrifyingly controlled theatricality and Manuel's internal depth - and you absolutely need both in a story that centers Saint-Just.

The duality in Saint-Just is that a burning furnace is hiding just beneath a frozen exterior. The latter is a shield or an armor; the former is who he truly is, but that very few were privy to after 1789.

[jade-florelle]

I have to take his duality into account when playing Saint-Just...

[jade-florelle]

Do you guys have any playlists for Saint-Just/Saintspierre? Mine is like this (you can tell I’m very picky about music XD)

Saintspierre: most songs by Lana Del Rey, especially "Born to Die" and "Young and Beautiful", and "Who wants to live forever" by Queen have the special place in my heart❤️‍🩹

Saint-Just: "Keep yourself alive" and "I Want It All" by Queen, messy ambitious teenager vibe

and some songs by Lana are Therese’ POV towards SJ (Old Money, Sad Girl) for me

I would love to hear about yours!!

[jade-florelle]

Seraph Saint-Just🪽

[jade-florelle]

Why am I attracted to Saint-Just so much?

I think it's because I can see myself in him. I, like him, had messy teen days (I also had an affair with a girl one year older than me and had a quarrel with my mother over it...), have a strong sense of justice, the irl name which means ”flower”, absolute preference for blue and silver earrings. I am also a Virgo, and even have a beauty mark at the same spot as him. and I have always been captivated by the idea of angels.

This may sound a bit weird, but this is the first time I feel this way for any historical figures. I feel like I just know him from another life.

somehow this strange connection is changing my view on love. I, as an asexual lesbian, gave up on love a while ago (you know how hard it is to find someone like me in this world XD) but now, I started to feel like I could find the one oneday. I mean, if Saint-Just could, maybe I could too! Will I ever find my Robespierre? Let's see...

[jade-florelle]

His guardian angel carries him to bed.

Thank @alchemyfire for the beautiful story!!

[jade-florelle]

This was my first proper attempt to draw Maximilien in my style! I have no idea how to draw his wig:(

[jade-florelle]

He has always been fascinated by birds… No wonder he’s immensely attracted to this large divine winged-creature…

[jade-florelle]

printed Saint-Just in an armchair and put him in a vintage French photoframe! displayed on my altar;)

also made a T shirt with my art on it (this has an angel wing on a sleeve so that my arm turn into one🪽) what do you think?

[jade-florelle]

I didn't have the time draw something😭 but anyways, Happy birthday Maximillien!! A true patriot and the incorruptable, I love you so!🕊‪‪💚🍊📗

[jade-florelle]

SJ in a musical;)

Strangely enough, I fortunately got the opportunity to play the role of Saint-Just in a musical!! The performance takes place in December, so I am doing everything I can to transform myself body and soul into the beautiful Archangel of RevolutionXD anyways, wish me luck!!🪽‪

[historicalshroe]

Andddd sj in drag too since I did Robespierre in drag last time

And with trans colour scheme cus sj literally trans man

[jade-florelle]

oh my... I know he's goth I just know he is