A dramatic metaphor for the revolutionary events unfolding in his native Poland, Andrzej Wajda's adaptation of Stanislawa Przybyszewska's play is a brilliant account of the struggle of the two leaders of the French Revolution to control the country's future. Gérard Depardieu stars as Danton, who has retired to his country estate after having been supplanted as head of the Committee for Public Safety by Robespierre (Wojciech Psoniak). But with the commencement of the Reign of Terror, Danton returns to Paris in November 1793 in the hope that he can stem the tide of bloodshed unleashed by his former ally. Confident that his rhetorical skills and the high esteem in which he is held by the French people will cause them to rise up against the brutal ruling regime, Danton is stunned to find them pauperized by the recent war with Austria and cowed by the ubiquity of Robespierre's minions. Behind closed doors, Danton's attempts to act as a mediator between warring factions are met with cold indifference by the rigidly obsessive Robespierre. Anchored by exceptional performances by Depardieu and Psoniak and featuring exceptional photography and art direction, Wajda's coruscating epic is a masterpiece of reimagined history.