BEFORE: Another last-minute addition to the list - this ran on cable yesterday, and I couldn't ignore the similarity to the previous films title and topic, since this also details a U.S. president's (partial) history before being elected. Linking from "Abe Lincoln in Illinois", Ruth Gordon was also in "Rosemary's Baby" with Mia Farrow, who was also in "New York Stories" with Nick Nolte (last heard in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore").
THE PLOT: Story follows Jefferson to France (as the U.S. ambassador to the court of Louis XVI), after the death of his wife, his friendships and flirtations with the French, his relationship with his daughters and slaves from home.
AFTER: At first glance, this also seems like an odd focus for a film, the years between Jefferson's penning of the Declaration of Independence, and his time serving as U.S. President. But it's the setting of the film that allows the little ironies to flourish. Jefferson was ambassador to a country with a monarch, representing a country which had just rebelled against British rule. So America was a free country, but one where not all of its people were free. There was that little dispute about slavery that was boiling on the back burner, with some free states and some slave states.
Jefferson is seen here explaining to the French court how a country with "all men are created equal" right there in its Mission Statement was able to treat some people as more equal than others. (There must have been an asterisk in the Declaration somewhere.) But that's about the only time that anyone in the film really calls Ambassador SlaveOwner on his own bullshit.
Jefferson tells the French people, even his French girlfriend, that they just don't understand the "special relationship" that the colonists enjoy with the Negroes. Oh, is that the one where you treat them as your concubines? Irony upon irony, as his Italian girlfriend (who's married, BTW, but to a flamingly gay Frenchman) gets jealous of Sally Hemmings. Tom, baby, it's France, they'll understand - they practically invented the concept of having affairs.
But just because everyone does something, that doesn't make it right. Jefferson's relationship with Hemmings was not unique - the movie points out that he inherited slaves from his late wife's father, who probably did the same thing. So Jefferson's first wife and Hemmings (common-law wife?) were probably/possibly half-sisters. That makes Hemmings the aunt to Jefferson's daughters, and the relationships probably get more complicated from there, until somebody is their own grandfather.
But the cruel truth is, even if someone like Jefferson (who seems pretty enlightened about freedom of religion, except where his own daughter is concerned) were to grant freedom to his slaves, where would they go? What sort of opportunities would they have in the America of the 1780's? It would be the end of one set of problems, and the start of another.
NITPICK POINT: Thomas Jefferson didn't speak French? I thought he was a super-intelligent guy. Or is this just a case where the actor playing him couldn't speak French? (Just as I thought - Wikipedia says that T.J. started studying Latin, Greek and French at the age of 9)
A couple of cameos from two eponymous historical figures - Franz Mesmer, German physician and hypnotist (seen here demonstrating the concept of "mesmerization") and Doctor Joseph Guillotin, who invented the humane (?) execution device "La guillotine" (seen here demonstrating the concept of "foreshadowing").
Also starring Greta Scacchi (last seen in "Presumed Innocent"), Gwyneth Paltrow (last seen in "Iron Man 2"), Thandie Newton (last seen in "2012"), Seth Gilliam, Simon Callow (last seen in "The Phantom of the Opera"), with cameos from Michael Lonsdale, Nancy Marchand (last seen in "Dear God"), Vincent Cassel (last seen in "Elizabeth"), and James Earl Jones (last heard in "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride"). James Earl Jones showed up just in time for Star Wars Day, which was very thoughtful of him. Actually, with Natalie Portman and Ewan MacGregor appearing, it's been a pretty good week for Star Wars actors.
RATING: 4 out of 10 powdered wigs (if you're into that sort of thing)
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