Duclerque Rising

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Duclerque Rising
File:DuclerqueRisingPoster2.png
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMoïse Dior
Screenplay byFrancis Chauveau
Léon Deshaies
Produced byAlexandre Gérin
Starring
CinematographyJordan Boucher
Edited byIsaac Grosjean
Music byQuentin Badeaux
Production
company
Distributed byLussier Pictures
Release dates
  • 15 December 2019 (2019-12-15) (Gaullica)
  • 17 December 2019 (2019-12-17) (Satucin)
  • 21 December 2019 (2019-12-21) (Werania)
  • 4 January 2020 (2020-01-04) (Lorcania)
Running time
151 minutes
CountriesGaullica
Satucin
LanguageGaullican
Budget$210 million
Box office$1.2 billion

Duclerque Rising (Gaullican: La montée de Duclerque) is a 2019 historical war drama film directed by Moïse Dior from a screenplay by, Francis Chauveau and Léon Deshaies. The film stars Jérémy Bozonnet, Roméo Carré, Luca Balboni, Clovis Bescond, Fernand Thévenet, Albert Deniau, Blaise Pichard, Yana Tarasova, Agathe Carbonneau, and Richard Chevotet. It is set during the 1920s, detailing the rise of the Entente and the first year of the war, and depicting the pre-war regimes of Rafael Duclerque (portrayed by Bozonnet), Henri Masson (portrayed by Carré), and Ottaviano Castello (portrayed by Balboni).

The film had its world premiere at the Verlois Film Festival on 1 November 2019, and it was also screened at the Gatôn International Film Festival. It was released in Gaullica on 15 December, followed by general release on 17 December, and was released on 21 January 2020 in Lorcania. The film grossed $1.2 billion worldwide and received mainly positive reviews from critics, especially with regard to Bozonnet's acting, with many considering it to be one of the best performances of his career. The film garnered controversy before its release over its depictions of several Entente figures.

The film earned Bozonnet his first Academy Award for Best Actor, as well as the AGAFT Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Silver Circle Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and the Film Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. At the 92nd Academy Awards the film earned six nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Actor and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. At the 71st Lorcanian Academy Film Awards it received nine nominations including Best Film and Outstanding Gaullican Film. Its sequels, False Idols and World in Flames, will be released in December 2020 and December 2021 respectively.

Plot

In October 1920, Albert III looks upon the Gaullican coast as he flees into exile with his wife and several loyalist ministers. Duclerque attends Albert IV's coronation, and in private promises the young monarch that the Parti Populaire will restore Gaullica's place in the world. Duclerque begins 'functionalising' Gaullican society and politics, banning all opposition and imprisoning opposition leaders. Duclerque meets with Henri Masson and informs him that peace in Euclea is impossible, Masson responds negatively to the idea of war but promises his full support nonetheless.

The ambassadors of Werania and Estmere, Christof Sondheim and Montomery Gordons, meet to discuss their worries about Gaullica's military build up and bellicose diplomatic attitude. The Prime Minister of Estmere H. H. Arterbury meets with William III to inform him of the danger, but is rebuffed by the disinterested king. Duclerque is alarmed to discover that Masson has merged the Satucine branch of the Parti Populaire with his own Party d'Action but is reluctant to lose an ally. General Guillame de Learé arrives in Marirana and is warmly welcomed by Ottaviano Castello. De Learé informs Castello that a war in Euclea is likely, and is alarmed to discover that Castello has ambitions involving a war in the Asterias.

Duclerque gives a speech in which he indicates the likelihood of conflict and denounces the enemies of Gaullica. He throws a fit of rage upon hearing a radio rebuttal of his speech by Albert III, now in Glytter, and without Albert IV's knowledge sets the former monarch as a target for assassination. In Estmere the parliament discusses the threat of Gaullica, but is ultimately unable to reach an agreement on how to react to Duclerque's aggression. After witnessing Mariranan soldiers he'd helped train and arm purging civilians considered 'undesirables', de Learé requests and receives permission to return to Gaullica. Castello meets with Masson to discuss a new order in the Asterias and negotiates a defensive pact between Marirana and Satucin, without Duclerque's knowledge. Duclerque writes to Masson's deputy Cédric de Verley in an attempt to have Masson removed from office, but Masson intercepts and burns the letter.

Inspired by Duclerque's rhetoric, Jean-Charles Corne enlists in the army and is commissioned as an officer due to his father's high status and gentry background. He is deployed in Verlois after a riot begins over the burning of an effigy of Albert III, and takes part in an operation arresting and deporting citizens of Marolevic descent, who Duclerque blames the riots upon. Masson confides in his wife, Sylvaine Masson, that he believes Duclerque will have him killed. Masson has de Verley arrested and purges the 'Rightist' faction within the Parti d'Action. In response Duclerque re-establishes the Satucine branch of the Parti Populaire, though it only exists on paper and his requests to Viceroy Cyrille to dismiss Masson are harshly rebuked. Cyrille calls his nephew, Albert IV, to warn him of Duclerque and the 'new men', but his warnings are unheeded.

Mariranan soldiers stage a border skirmish, Castello blames Eldmark and announces a state of war between them. Duclerque and Masson refuse to aid Castello in what they view as an offensive war, with Duclerque correctly estimating Eldmark's inability to win against Marirana alone. Duclerque uses the Kelang Incident to issue an ultimatum and gain the war he desires. Gaullican troops quickly overrun Hennehouwe and Kesselbourg, but are stopped in Estmere by a joint Werano-Estmerish force.

Six months into the war, Hervé Ouvrard, a factory worker, intends to use his position to avoid the recent draft. His crippled father berates him for his cowardice, and his fiance's father threatens to break off the engagement. Reluctantly Ouvrard enlists and is posted in Hennehouwe, where to his horror he finds himself aiding in mass murders and ethnic cleansing as part of Duclerque's dream of a Greater Gaullica. Corne finds himself hospitalised in Gaullica after being wounded on the front. Masson drafts two letters, one announcing Satucin's independence, and another inviting Albert III to take Satucin's crown, but after a conversation with his wife he burns both.

Duclerque makes an impassioned speech, indicating that Gaullica is willing to fight a total war and will never surrender, and his speech is met with rapturous applause. The film ends on Duclerque looking upon a map of his planned new world order and smiling as his generals and ministers begin gathering for a meeting of the War executive.

Cast

Yana Tarasova makes a cameo as Violetta Vitsina, appearing as part of a Marolevian crowd listening to news of the outbreak of war. Silvain Descombes, Gustave Boissonade, Gauthier Carrel and Daniel Bettencourt make appearances as Lieutenant-General Dominique Gérin-Lajoie, General Néo Gauthier, Field Marshal Adolphe de Saint-Pierre, and Fayolle Giraud respectively. Mélissa Deloffre was to make an appearance as a young Clélie Gérin-Lajoie, but her scenes were moved to World in Flames.

Production

Filming took place at the Rayenne People's Palace in Rayenne, Gaullica as well as the Town Hall.

On 9 June 2014, it was announced that Lussier Pictures would work with A Sotirian State Director Moïse Dior and screenwriters Francis Chauveau, Léon Deshaies to produce a 'spiritual sequel' film about the political career of Rafael Duclerque. The project was halted while Moïse Dior completed his work on The Jinxer, and on 16 April 2016 it was announced the film would be split into three parts and would additionally cover the political careers of Ottaviano Castello and Henri Masson, as well as following several real and fictional military accounts of the war.

In January 2017, Arthur Fournier, Clovis Rigal, and Jérémy Bozonnet were reported to be in talks to play Duclerque, with Jérémy Bozonnet ultimately winning the role On 15 April 2017, it was announced that Fernand Thévenet was set to play King Albert III and Roméo Carré was cast as Henri Masson. On 11 June 2017, Luca Balboni joined the cast.

By March 2018, Duclerque Rising had begun principal photography, and it was confirmed that Quentin Badeaux would score the film. For his role as Duclerque, Bozonnet studied the dictator intensely, watching all of his speeches to adopt his mannerisms, and reading his diary and unfinished memoir to understand his emotions and thought process. It was reported that Luca Balboni would not portray Castello with his signature moustache, to keep with Oscar La Corte's performance of the dictator in A Sotirian State.

For locations, the Rayenne People's Palace in Rayenne was used as the interior for the Palace of Verlois. The Town Hall in Rayenne was also used extensively, its interior doubling as Gaullica's Parliament as well as Duclerque's Ministry buildings, the latter of has since been demolished.

Reception

Box office

Duclerque Rising grossed $211.5 million in Gaullica and Satucin, and $994.6 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $1.206 billion.

In Gaullica and Satucin, the film began a limited release on 15 and 17 December respectively. Its worldwide opening weekend of $140.5 million was the eighth-biggest of all time.

Critical response

Jérémy Bozonnet received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Rafael Duclerque

The review-aggregation website Poires Fraîches gives a score of 82 percent, with an average score of 7.8/10, based on 412 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Duclerque Rising ably juggles a dizzying array of Entente politicians, civilians and soldiers during the years leading to the Great War, and the result is a dramatic, emotionally resonant epic that (mostly) realizes its leviathan ambitions." LetsReview, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100 based on 153 critics, indicating "largely favorable reviews".

Historical accuracy

Writing in Ardoise, historian and academic Daniel Loup called Duclerque Rising "a piece of historical fiction that undertakes a serious and controversial historical task", presenting the Entente figures as human and yet not attempting to justify their actions. The director, Dior, has explained that he felt very conflicted in portraying Duclerque as a "magnetic, almost godlike figure" but that it was necessary to show why "[Gaullica] fell so willingly into his grip."

There is no evidence that Masson ever prepared for Satucine independence, or intended to keep the monarchy in such an event via Albert III. Dior has said that he interpreted a line in Masson's memoirs, that "sometimes [his] mind strayed towards the radical option" as referencing independence, though there are many interpretations over this line and Masson's feelings towards independence. Likewise there is little evidence to suggest that Duclerque and Masson were anything more than political acquaintances, that Duclerque attempted to have Masson removed from office, or that Masson feared being assassinated by Duclerque. Cédric de Verley's part in the attempted coup is also fictionalised, as his arrest was actually based on his murder of Baudouin Pascal, as was his involvement with the 'Rightist' faction within the Parti d'Action, which was purged later for different reasons.

The ambassadors of Werania and Estmere, Christof Sondheim and Montomery Gordons, are fictional and represent a portmanteau of various Weranian and Estmerish diplomats and ambassadors in the period. Duclerque's speech indicating that Gaullica would fight a total war happened later, after Gaullica attacked the Lorcanian fleet in Glytter. Duclerque and Viceroy Cyrille never interacted, though Cyrille's warnings to Albert IV about Duclerque and the Functionalists were real, but were done via letter rather than phone call.

Aloisio Belluomini, writing for Luci, Camera, Azione! called the film "Functionalist propaganda" for its portrayal of Ottaviano Castello and Marirana under his regime. Belluomini wrote that "Marirana was impoverished and starving under the dictator, yet Dior presents it as glowing and thriving, as if the removal of the 'undesirables' shown was a good thing". Belluomini also complained that "the depiction of this moustache-less, paternal Castello who feels religious conflict over what he feels he 'must do' is complete and utter fabrication." Dior responded that many of de Learé and Castello's scenes take place in areas purposefully made to be a showcase and did not represent the entire country, and that his interpretation of Castello is historically-supported but was also done for cinematic purposes.

The conflict De Learé felt about his role in aiding Marirana purge 'undesirables' and political opposition is also invented, though the reasons for his sudden replacement in Marirana is unknown as the documents were destroyed during an air raid on Verlois.

Sequels

Duclerque Rising was shot back-to-back with its sequels, False Idols and World in Flames, which will be released December 2020 and December 2021 respectively. False Idols will depict the height of the Entente and the beginnings of the turning tide, while World in Flames will document the fall of the Entente and the aftermath of the Great War.