Bibliographie
Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019) directed by Toby Haynes, written by James Graham House Productions Channel 4. DVD House Productions Limited, 2019.
Darkest Hour (2017) directed by Joe Wright, written by Anthony McCarten, Perfect World Pictures & Working Title Films. DVD Focus Features & Universal Pictures, 2017.
Peterloo (2018) directed and written by Mike Leigh, Film4 Productions, British Film Institute & Thin Man Films. DVD EntertainOneUK, 2018.
ANDREWS Nigel, “Mike Leigh’s Peterloo is a bloated, right-on bellow.” October 31, 2018. <https://www.ft.com/content/12d6ff60-dd17-11e8-8f50-cbae5495d92b>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
BLEASDALE John, “Peterloo first look: Mike Leigh’s cudgel for a massacre.” 5 October 2018. <https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/peterloo-mike-leigh-cudgel-massacre>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
BOND Kimberley, “These Game of Thrones Brexit references are getting ridiculous.” 15th January 2019. <https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-15/brexit-game-of-thrones-comparisons/>, accessed on 20 May 2021.
BRADSHAW Peter, “Peterloo review – grit and brilliance in Mike Leigh’s very British massacre.” The Guardian, 1 Sep 2018. <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/01/peterloo-review-grit-and-brilliance-in-mike-leighs-very-british-massacre>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
British Film Institute, “Impacts of leaving the EU on the UK’s screen sector.” January 2017. <https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/impacts-leaving-eu-uk-s-screen-sector>, accessed on 20 April 2021.
BROICH John, “What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Darkest Hour”, 8 Dec 2017. <https://slate.com/culture/2017/12/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-darkest-hour.html>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
CADWALLADR Carole, “‘You whitewashed the corruption’: James Graham and Carole Cadwalladr on Brexit: The Uncivil War”, The Guardian, 7 Jan 2019. <https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/07/you-whitewashed-the-corruption-james-graham-and-carole-cadwalladr-on-brexit-the-uncivil-war>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
CLARKE Donald, “Darkest Hour review: Oldman is chunky, the script is clunky.” The Irish Times, Jan 10, 2018. <https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/darkest-hour-review-oldman-is-chunky-the-script-is-clunky-1.3349659>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
CONNELLY Mark, We can take it! Britain and the Memory of the Second World War, Edinburg: Pearson Education Limited, 2004.
DAVIDSON Jenni, “Brexit is like a TV series that goes on and on with increasingly improbable plotlines”, 5 April 2019. <https://www.holyrood.com/articles/inside-politics/brexit-tv-series-goes-and-increasingly-improbable-plotlines>, accessed on 20 April 2021.
DECKELMEIER, Joe. “Darkest Hour Writer Tried To Find ‘The Human Inside the Myth’.” Dec 08, 2017. <https://screenrant.com/darkest-hour-interview-anthony-mccarten/>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
DIDI-HUBERMAN Georges, “Rendre sensible” in A. Badiou, P. Bourdieu, J. Butler, G. Didi-Huberman, S. Khiari, J. Rancière, Qu’est-ce qu’un peuple ?, Paris : La Fabrique éditions, 2013, 77-114.
DUNT Ian, “Brexit has turned British politics into a zombie horror movie.” The Washington Post, apr 5, 2019. < https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/03/brexit-has-turned-british-politics-into-zombie-horror-movie/>, accessed on 20 April 2021.
GILBERT Sophie, “Brexit Is Chaos. The Movie About It Is Anything But.” The Atlantic, Jan 17, 2019. <https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/how-james-graham-made-sense-of-brexit/580567/>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
GRAHAM James, “Interview with writer James Graham for Brexit: The Uncivil War”, 28 December 2018. <https://www.channel4.com/press/news/interview-writer-james-graham-brexit-uncivil-war>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
HARRIS John, “Peterloo shaped modern Britain, as much as any king or queen did”, The Guardian, 29 Oct 2018. <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/29/peterloo-britain-kings-queens-mike-leigh-massacre>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
IDE Wendy, “Darkest Hour review – the woman behind a very great man”, The Guardian, 14 Jan 2018. <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/14/darkest-hour-review-gary-oldman-kristin-scott-thomas-churchill>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
JONES Alice, “Brexit Is Dividing Britain. So Is a Brexit Movie.” The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2019. <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/arts/television/brexit-the-uncivil-war-benedict-cumberbatch.html>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
LEIGH Mike, “Mike Leigh interview: ‘Intelligent, working people voted for Brexit – but what role did the truth play?’”. <https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/mike-leigh-interview-peterloo-brexit-working-class-politics-trade-unions-protest-a8608296.html>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
MANGAN Lucy, “Brexit: The Uncivil War review – superficial, irresponsible TV.” The Guardian, Mon 7 Jan 2019, last modified on Fri 11 Jan 2019. <https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/07/brexit-the-uncivil-war-review-superficial-irresponsible-tv-cumberbatch>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
MOORE, Charles (2018). “Darkest Hour is superb Brexit propaganda.” The Spectator, 3 February 2018. <https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/02/darkest-hour-is-superb-brexit-propaganda/ >, accessed on 3 April 2021.
MOORE, Charles (2019). “Brexit, the Uncivil War, rages on because our MPs continue to ignore voters”, The Telegraph, 11 January 2019.
MOORE James, “Boris Johnson is engaged in the long con to be PM, and he’s counting on us staying in the EU”, The Independent, 8 December 2018. <https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/boris-johnson-prime-minister-brexit-deal-canada-earnings-latest-a8672986.html>, accessed on 20 April 2021.
MORTIMER Caroline, “EU council president Donald Tusk says UK general election call ‘a plot twist worth of Hitchcock’”, The Independent, Tuesday 18 April 2017. <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-president-donald-tusk-uk-general-election-plot-twist-theresa-may-alfred-hitchcock-a7689491.html>, accessed on 20 April 2021.
O’BRIEN Charlotte, “Brexit: The Uncivil War – what it told us, and what it didn’t.” 9 January 2019. <http://theconversation.com/brexit-the-uncivil-war-what-it-told-us-and-what-it-didnt-109532>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
POOLE Robert, “‘By the Law or the Sword’: Peterloo Revisited,” 29 March 2006. <https://doi-org.distant.bu.univ-rennes2.fr/10.1111/j.1468-229X.2006.00366.x>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
PULVER Andrew, “Winston Churchill of Darkest Hour a rebuke to Trump, says film’s director”, The Guardian, 28 September 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/28/darkest-hour-trailer-trump-churchill-gary-oldman--joe-wright>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
RAWNSLEY, andrew. “Brexit: The Uncivil War – four political insiders give their verdicts.” The Guardian, 6 Jan 2019. <https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/06/brexit-uncivil-war-reviews-andrew-rawnsley-gina-miller-gloria-de-piero-shahmir-sanni>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
SCOTT, a.O. “Review: ‘Darkest Hour,’ or the Great Man Theory of History (and Acting).” The New York Times, Nov. 21, 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/movies/darkest-hour-review-gary-oldman.html?referrer=google_kp>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
SMITH, Chris. “Game of Thrones, hamsters and other things that didn’t last as long as Brexit.” 11 April 2019. <https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-47734673>, accessed on 20 May 2021.
TANGCAY Jazz, “Great Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour”, October 24, 2017. <https://www.awardsdaily.com/2017/10/24/interview-anthony-mccarten-takes-great-winston-churchill-darkest-hour/>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
THOMPSON E.M, The Making of the English Working Class [1963], London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2013.
WOOD Alex, “Here’s Why Brexit Has More Plot Twists Than ‘Game Of Thrones’”, March 29, 2019. <https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexwood/2019/03/29/heres-why-brexit-has-more-plot-twists-than-game-of-thrones/#7d702abd63b5>, accessed on 20 May 2021.
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Notes
‘Impacts of leaving the EU on the UK’s screen sector,’ <https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/impacts-leaving-eu-uk-s-screen-sector>, accessed on 20 March 2021.
It is reported that in 2019, inward investment hit an all-time record of £3.07bn out of a total of £3.61bn while UK film production fell 45%. <https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/bfi-statistics-2019>, accessed on 20 March 2021.
Sheena Scott, ‘Brexit: An Uncertain Future For The British Film Industry,’ Nov 20, 2018, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/sheenascott/2018/11/20/brexit-an-uncertain-future-for-the-british-film-industry/#157c53a06944>, accessed on 21 May 2020.
Quoted in Geoffrey Macnab, ‘UK film execs make predictions for Brexit impact,’ 9 May 2018, <https://www.screendaily.com/features/uk-film-execs-make-predictions-for-brexit-impact/5128929.article>, accessed on 20 March 2021. David Puttnam is probably better-known for his career as film producer, in particular for producing the celebrated Chariots of Fire (1981) that made the British so proud when it won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1982.
Jenni Davidson, “Brexit is like a TV series that goes on and on with increasingly improbable plotlines,” 5 April 2019, <https://www.holyrood.com/articles/inside-politics/brexit-tv-series-goes-and-increasingly-improbable-plotlines>, accessed on 20 March 2021.
Kimberley Bond, “These Game of Thrones Brexit references are getting ridiculous,” 15th January 2019, <https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-15/brexit-game-of-thrones-comparisons/>, accessed on 20 March 2021.
Quoted in Caroline Mortimer. ‘EU council president Donald Tusk says UK general election call “a plot twist worth of Hitchcock”.’ The Independent, Tuesday 18 April 2017, <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-president-donald-tusk-uk-general-election-plot-twist-theresa-may-alfred-hitchcock-a7689491.html>, accessed on May 20, 2019.
Among other headlines: Jennifer Gannon, “The Apprentice’ is the most Brexit of TV shows, living in a landscape of denial,” Oct 4, 2017, <https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/the-apprentice-is-the-most-brexit-of-tv-shows-living-in-a-landscape-of-denial-1.3244234; Adam Bloodworth, “Don’t Forget The Driver is the Brexit show we need right now,” 9.4.19, <https://www.thejackalmagazine.com/dont-forget-the-driver-tim-crouch>, accessed on 20 March 2021.
London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
Alice Jones, “Brexit Is Dividing Britain. So Is a Brexit Movie,” Jan. 10, 2019, <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/arts/television/brexit-the-uncivil-war-benedict-cumberbatch.html>, accessed on 30 March 2021.
Lucy Mangan, “Brexit: The Uncivil War review – superficial, irresponsible TV,” Mon 7 Jan 2019, last modified on Fri 11 Jan 2019, <https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/07/brexit-the-uncivil-war-review-superficial-irresponsible-tv-cumberbatch>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
Sophie Gilbert, “Brexit Is Chaos. The Movie About It Is Anything But,” Jan 17, 2019, <https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/how-james-graham-made-sense-of-brexit/580567/>, accessed on 30 March 2021.
James Graham, born in 1982, has been hailed as one of the most prominent British political dramatists of the age. His breakthrough play in 2012 entitled This House was about the scheming and shenanigans in British Parliament in the second half of the 1970s. Other plays also focused on recent British politics. The Vote’s final night on stage was also broadcast live at the exact time as the play is set, since it narrates the closing of the polling for the 2015 general election 7 May 2015. As its title indicates, the 2015 television film Coalition was about the coalition government following the 2010 general election. Labour of Love, which opened in 2017, scrutinised the evolution of the Labour Party through the life of a Labour MP over 25 years in office.
Quoted in Alice Jones “Brexit Is Dividing Britain. So Is a Brexit Movie,” Jan. 10, 2019, <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/arts/television/brexit-the-uncivil-war-benedict-cumberbatch.html>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
“Interview with writer James Graham for Brexit: The Uncivil War.” 28 December 2018, <https://www.channel4.com/press/news/interview-writer-james-graham-brexit-uncivil-war>, accessed on 30 April 2021.
Quoted in Joe Deckelmeier, “Darkest Hour Writer Tried To Find ‘The Human Inside the Myth’,” Dec 08, 2017 <https://screenrant.com/darkest-hour-interview-anthony-mccarten/>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
Quoted in Andrew Pulver, “Winston Churchill of Darkest Hour a rebuke to Trump, says film’s director,” 28 Sep 2017, <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/28/darkest-hour-trailer-trump-churchill-gary-oldman--joe-wright>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
The comment appears in the DVD commentary and in different interviews, for instance for the US channel salon.com, dated 12 April 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImCeki6_KQ4>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
John Broich, “What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Darkest Hour” Dec 08, 2017, <https://slate.com/culture/2017/12/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-darkest-hour.html>, accessed on 3 April 2021. Interestingly, the reference to the famous quote that has been used to encapsulate British fortitude and raise spirit in the face of adversity appears in Brexit just after the results of the referendum have been proclaimed: “From this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered.”
Donald Clarke, “Darkest Hour review: Oldman is chunky, the script is clunky” Jan 10, 2018, <https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/darkest-hour-review-oldman-is-chunky-the-script-is-clunky-1.3349659>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
Wendy Ide, “Darkest Hour review – the woman behind a very great man,” 14 Jan 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/14/darkest-hour-review-gary-oldman-kristin-scott-thomas-churchill>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
A.O. Scott, “Review: ‘Darkest Hour,’ or the Great Man Theory of History (and Acting),” Nov. 21, 2017, <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/movies/darkest-hour-review-gary-oldman.html?referrer=google_kp>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
? Charles Moore, “Darkest Hour is superb Brexit propaganda.” The Spectator, 3 February 2018, <https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/02/darkest-hour-is-superb-brexit-propaganda/>, accessed on 3 July 2019.
Georges Didi-Huberman, “Rendre sensible”, in A. Badiou, P. Bourdieu, J. Butler, G. Didi-Huberman, S. Khiari, J. Rancière, Qu’est-ce qu’un peuple ?, Paris : La Fabrique éditions, 2013, 77-114, 77.
Peter Bradshaw, “Peterloo review – grit and brilliance in Mike Leigh’s very British massacre,” 1 Sep 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/01/peterloo-review-grit-and-brilliance-in-mike-leighs-very-british-massacre>, accessed on 6 July 2019.
Wendy Ide, “Darkest Hour review – the woman behind a very great man,” 14 Jan 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/14/darkest-hour-review-gary-oldman-kristin-scott-thomas-churchill>, accessed on 3 July 2019.
John Bleasdale, “Peterloo first look: Mike Leigh’s cudgel for a massacre,” 5 October 2018, <https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/peterloo-mike-leigh-cudgel-massacre>, accessed on 6 July 2019.
Extracts from Churchill’s first speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” May 13, 1940, from his first BBC broadcast as Prime Minister to the British People “Be Ye Men of Valour” May 19, 1940, and the end of his famous speech in the House of Commons, June 4, 1940 “We Shall Fight on the Beaches”. See <https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/blood-toil-tears-and-sweat-2/ <https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/be-ye-men-of-valour/ and https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches/.
Quoted in Jazz Tangcay, “Great Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour,” October 24, 2017, <https://www.awardsdaily.com/2017/10/24/interview-anthony-mccarten-takes-great-winston-churchill-darkest-hour/>, accessed on 3 April 2021.
Mark Connelly, We can take it! Britain and the Memory of the Second World War, Edinburg: Pearson Education Limited, 2004, 120-124.
Gary Oldman was widely acclaimed for his performance as Winston Churchill, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Mark Connelly recalls how people thought they actually heard the 1940 speeches although only one was broadcast on the radio while the others were delivered in the Commons (live broadcasting from Parliament began in the 1970s) and recorded only later. (Connelly 122-3).
They also illustrate the specific words uttered at that moment: “…whatever the cost …and the agony maybe”.
Robert Poole, “‘By the Law or the Sword’: Peterloo Revisited,” 29 March 2006, <https://doi-org.distant.bu.univ-rennes2.fr/10.1111/j.1468-229X.2006.00366.x>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
Jacqueline Riding already worked as historical consultant for Mike Leigh’s previous film Mr. Turner (2014) and wrote Peterloo: The Story of the Manchester Massacre (London: Head of Zeus Ltd, 2018) as a tie-in to the film.
Documents include letters from the magistrates (including Ethelston’s poor joke when sentencing poor Margaret Micklethwaite who was found intoxicated in the cellar and convicted for the thefts of “two bottles of excellent claret”, after she has explained she went to the cellar because she saw a ghost in the attic, “Indeed! So, afeared of the spirit in the attic, you partook of the spirit in the cellar”), letters and memoirs of the reformers John Saxton, John Knight, Henry Hunt, Samuel Bamford and John Bagguley, speeches reported verbatim by newspapers, like Susanna Saxton’s address to the Manchester Female Reform Society printed in the Manchester Observer, 31 July 1819 (catalogue reference HO 42/190 f.11), large extracts of the Prince Regent’s speech for the State Opening of Parliament on 28 January 1817, Home Office Disturbances Papers.
Nigel Andrews, “Mike Leigh’s Peterloo is a bloated, right-on bellow,” October 31, 2018, <https://www.ft.com/content/12d6ff60-dd17-11e8-8f50-cbae5495d92b>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
John Harris, “Peterloo shaped modern Britain, as much as any king or queen did,” 29 Oct 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/29/peterloo-britain-kings-queens-mike-leigh-massacre>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
The words used by Home Secretary Lord Sidmouth to General Byng.
As would be expected, most of the middle-class and working-class characters have a broad Lancastrian accent; Henry Hunt however has a distinct accent from the West Country (he was born in Wiltshire).
Leigh explains in the DVD commentary (28:00) that Samuel Bamford, who wrote an account of Peterloo in his memoirs, was also the author of a book about South Lancashire dialect, which they found very useful. Examples of such words and phrases used in the film are: “no striking” (no crying), “see thee”, “you daft barmpot!” (idiot); “You’re talking bullscutter” (bullshit), “don’t belder at me” (shout like a bull) “Stop mithering!” (stop fussing or moaning).
In this respect Leigh’s depiction of Peterloo is much in keeping with E.M. Thompson’s analysis in his book The Making of the English Working Class (1963) who sees the massacre originating in “the panic of class hatred” (752).
Mike Leigh explained in an interview that: “What is remarkable for me is that people in Manchester and the northwest are proud of our socialist history,” he says. “And yet, Peterloo wasn’t really talked about.” “Mike Leigh interview: ‘Intelligent, working people voted for Brexit – but what role did the truth play?’” <https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/mike-leigh-interview-peterloo-brexit-working-class-politics-trade-unions-protest-a8608296.html>, accessed on 6 April 2021.
Tim Shipman’s book is entitled All Out War, Craig Oliver’s Unleashing Demons.
See James Graham’s interview in Cadwalladr. The film’s foreword is not as specific and states “This drama is based on real events and interviews with key people who were there. Some aspects of dialogue, character and scenes have been devised for the purpose of dramatisation.”
Although contrastive devices prevail, a parallel is explicitly made through two consecutive scenes showing first Cummings who meets and hires Canadian Zack Massingham, co-founder of AggregateIQ, then Arron Banks who meets Robert Mercer to discuss their connection with the data firm Cambridge Analytica.
See for example Charlotte O’Brien, Professor of Law at the University of York, “Brexit: The Uncivil War – what it told us, and what it didn’t.” 9 January 2019, <http://theconversation.com/brexit-the-uncivil-war-what-it-told-us-and-what-it-didnt-109532>, accessed on 30 March 2021, or Andrew Rawnsley, Observer chief political commentator, “Brexit: The Uncivil War – four political insiders give their verdicts.” The Guardian, 6 Jan 2019, <https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/06/brexit-uncivil-war-reviews-andrew-rawnsley-gina-miller-gloria-de-piero-shahmir-sanni>, accessed on 30 March 2021.
Terms related to warfare abound in the dialogue and in particular in Cummings’ lines.
The device was made popular by Underwood’s asides in House of Cards (Netflix, 2013-2018), and was already used in the British version of the series (BBC, 1990) and of course owes much to the stage, and in particular the Shakespearean characters of Richard III and Iago.
In the film Oliver Craig describes Cummings as “basically mental” and “an egotist with a wrecking ball”.
Charles Moore, “Brexit, the uncivil war, rages on because our MPs continue to ignore the voters,” The Telegraph, 11 January 2019.
“Britain makes a noise. An actual noise, did you know that? […] It groans. It’s been groaning for some time.” These are actually the first words of the film, uttered by Cummings.
The barrage of questions is as follows: “So what is it you don’t like about the European Union? Is it the size of it? What is it you don’t like about the EU? What is it you don’t like? What about it? The fact it’s "over there"? […] What about it? What about immigration? Is it immigration? Is it immigration? You can be honest, is it immigration? What about immigration? Is it race? Is it different races not mixing? Is it race? Not being integrated? […] You think there should be a cap on immigration? Is it the numbers? Maybe it’s the numbers? You think it’s too many too? […] Is it the type of people they’re bringing over? Is it too many? What’s too many for you? You don’t believe the numbers? You think they’re not being counted properly, you don’t think you can trust the figures? […] Which countries don’t you like that have already joined? That have joined already? Why not? Why not? Why not? And who don’t you want to join next? Who don’t you want to join next? Why, why don’t you want... Why? Why? Why not? Why? Why don’t you?”
In a fictional scene where the directors of the two rival campaigns meet and have a drink, Craig accuses Cummings of “feeding a toxic culture, where nobody can trust or believe anything […] where nobody listens to each other, they just yell.”
“What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing. What does it desire to be? To become something...” What Is the Third Estate? (Qu’est-ce que le Tiers-État?) was written in January 1789, shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution, by the French writer and clergyman Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836). The pamphlet was Sieyès’ response to finance Minister Jacques Necker’s invitation for writers to state how they thought the Estates-General should be organized. Sieyès stated that the people wanted genuine representatives in the Estates-General, equal representation to the other two orders taken together, and votes taken by heads and not by orders.
“Qu’est-ce que le cinéma ? Rien. Que veut-il ? Tout. Que peut-il ? Quelque chose.”
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