"One does not renounce the honor of being a target."
Vaincre ou Mourir (a translation would be Vanquish or Die or Defeat or Die) is a 2023 French historical biopic film directed by Paul Mignot and Vincent Mottez and written by Mottez. It is produced by the historical theme park Puy du Fou (a first for them) and StudioCanal, and is based off the Puy du Fou show Le Dernier Panache.
The film is about the era of The French Revolution known as the Wars in Vendée
, following the royalist insurgency leader and nobleman François Athanase Charette de La Contrie, most often simply referred to as "Charette".
In the rural area of Vendée, the populations initially welcomed the changes of the Revolution between 1789 and 1792. By 1793 however, the execution of King Louis XVI, the War of the First Coalition and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy have changed everything, with people starting to resist the draft in the Republic's armies. A royalist and Catholic insurgency, the "Catholic and Royal Army", soon emerges.
François Athanase Charette de La Contrie (played by Hugo Becker), a French navy commander who's distinguished himself fighting in The American Revolution, is asked by said insurgency to lead them against the armies of the Republic, and he takes the mantle, unflinchingly dedicating his life to the royalist cause from that point on. The Republic's Convention responds by sending its "Infernal Columns", which commit numerous atrocities on the local populations to crush the insurgency. Charette soon has to use guerilla tactics against them.
Vaincre ou Mourir provides examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Céleste Bulkeley and Marie Adélaïde de La Rochefoucauld both take part to the insurgency and gain the nickname "Charette's Amazons" as a result.
- Artistic License – History:
- Charette never received a secret letter announcing the death of Louis XVII.
- Jacques-Louis Maupillier didn't die in Charette's Last Stand in 1796 as seen in the film. In Real Life, he survived the Wars in Vendée and died at age 79 in 1857. He also gets an Age Lift — in real life he was born in 1777, which means he couldn't possibly have had a son old enough be drafted in 1793. He's played by actor Francis Renaud, who was 54 when the film was shot.
- As for Charette's Last Stand, he still had 32 men when it happened in real life. They're less than 10 in the film.
- Author Tract: The Puy du Fou theme park (which produced the film) is all about a certain vision of history that doesn't always match how the field is academically or politically treated in France since it was founded by politician Philippe de Villiers, who's an important figure among traditionalist Catholics, reactionaries, royalists and the like (and himself wrote a book about Charette). Long story short, they really don't like the revolutionary side of The French Revolution and how it shaped the nation (or at least how it abolished monarchy in France altogether, be it constitutional or divine right). The film certainly aims at highlighting the Reign of Terror as a central component of the Revolution (and the biggest stain on French republicanism) and treats its protagonist as a heroic figure fighting for a noble and lost cause till the end.
- Cement Shoes: There are scenes depicting the drownings at Nantes, in which thousands of people were drowned in the Loire river on the orders of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (who called the river "The National Bathtub") for being "traitors" to the Republic or simply not being zealous enough towards it. People are seen being tied to weights and thrown in the river.
- Character Narrator: There's several monologues by Charette where he narrates what happened during battles and how the situation evolves.
- Civil War: One opposing two kinds of French people — the royalists who didn't emigrate and rural Vendeans who wish for things to return as they were under the monarchy prior to the changes of the Revolution that were forced upon them on one side, and those who embrace the revolutionary Republic on the other.
- Conscription: The start of the insurgency happens when people in Vendée refuse to enlist in the Republic's armies to go fighting (with a high chance of dying) against the forces of Austria and Prussia. The conscription is felt as too much for them after the Republic has already reduced the power of the Catholic Church in the country and beheaded their King, Louis XVI. Cue Torches and Pitchforks.
- Cool Sword: The envoys of king in exile Louis XVIII gift Charette a sword with "Je ne cède jamais" ("I never yield") engraved on it.
- Determinator: After the two truces, Charette doesn't give up no matter how he's increasingly losing men to either battles or people giving up, up to fighting a Last Stand with the handful of men that remain loyal to him in the end.
- Downer Ending: The insurgency is eventually crushed, and Charette and his inner circle all end up dead.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Charette has a dream in which he talks to the son of King Louis XVI, Louis XVII, who was imprisoned at the Temple Prison in Paris at the time. The next day, he receives a letter announcing Louis XVII's death, and the insurgency restarts after the fragile truce.
- Empathy Doll Shot: Towards the beginning, a Vendée child's ragdoll is seen falling on the ground as the Infernal Columns Rape, Pillage, and Burn (and kill).
- Frontline General: Charette takes part to the battles by himself instead of sitting back.
- Full-Circle Revolution: The First Republic considered the Monarchy as an oppressive regime and abolished it. However, the War of the First Coalition and an increasingly paranoid political atmosphere led to the creation of the Committee of Public Salvation and the Reign of Terror, causing a Civil War such as in Vendée.
- Hats Off to the Dead: Upon arriving to a square where there was once a guillotine in Nantes and where a bloodied piece of cloth remains, Charette and his inner circle remove their hats to honor the dead. Jean-Pierre Travot does the same.
- Heart Symbol: The Vendée insurgents of the Catholic and Royal Army wear a red Sacred Heart symbol.
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: Charette's main strategy mainly consists of ambushing the Republic's armies on forest roads and in bocages, since it's where they can be bottlenecked and are the most vulnerable, and he obtains some successes this way due to this Home Field Advantage. In open field battles, it's pretty much always a massacre for the Vendeans.
- Home Field Advantage: Charette's army is much smaller than the Republic's, but they know the Vendée bocages very well unlike their enemy, which comes in handy for their ambushes and Hit-and-Run Tactics.
- Honor Before Reason: Even when it becomes clear that the Vendée insurgency is permanently defeated, Charette keeps figthing for the royalist cause, refusing to surrender.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Many people get skewered with bayonets over the course of the film.
- Last Stand: By the end, Charette has been abandoned by pretty much everyone bar a handful of loyal men, and they're reduced to being preys of a manhunt in a forest.
- Off with His Head!: The guillotine is put at work aplenty during the Reign of Terror, though always with a Gory Discretion Shot when the blade falls, followed by a shot on the now-red blade with blood dropping from it.
- Outliving One's Offspring:
- Jacques-Louis Maupillier loses his son to an armed response of the Republic to the revolt against conscription early in the film, which motivates him to join the insurgency.
- Charette's young son dies before the second truce.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The "Infernal Columns" of the Republic pillage, burn houses, rape women and massacre people in numerous villages of Vendée to crush the insurgency.
- Rebel Leader: Charette becomes the undisputed leader of the Vendée insurgency against the First French Republic.
- Reign of Terror: The film takes place during the bloodiest, most repressive part of the French Revolution. In addition to the atrocities of the "Infernal Columns", the drownings at Nantes are also mentioned.
- Resigned to the Call: At the beginning, Charette enjoys life in his castle with his wife and child and doesn't want anything to do with the brewing insurgency. Until the day they invade his castle to seek him out to lead them, being the most experienced officer they can find. He's not reluctant to take command, however, and will dedicate the rest of his life to this cause from that point on.
- La Résistance: The insurgency of Vendée (and that of the Chouans up north) resisted the First French Republic's measures against the Catholic Church and resisted the draft initially, which led them to reject the Revolution's society changes and the Republic responded with increasing violence and atrocities. The film clearly doesn't go the Grey-and-Gray Morality route regarding the Republic and depicts them as a full on Reign of Terror and Vendeans as oppressed people resisting against it.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The film is set in the bloodiest and most repressive phase of the French Revolution.
- Rousing Speech: A horse-riding Charette's speech to his army before the first battle."My friends. We are the last ramparts of a thousand year old royalty, and against us blows the storm of History. The army facing us is, they say, the best in the world. But these soldiers, WE CAN DEFEAT THEM! BECAUSE OUR CAUSE IS JUST! AND YOUR HEART IS PURE!"
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here : Following the two truces, Charette's war looks increasingly hopeless and many of his men simply choose to give up even if that means complying with the Republic's conditions. Charette never holds a grudge against anyone who gives up, meanwhile.
- Shot at Dawn: Charette is eventually executed by a firing squad.
- Torches and Pitchforks: The drafting attempts of the Republic result in a massive revolt of peasants in Vendée, who appropriately use their tools as weapons at first, including pitchforks. One such mob goes to seek Charette in his castle to lead them.
- War Is Hell: Emphasized by one character from Charette's side quoting "We're not fighting on Earth anymore. We're fighting in Hell!" upon seeing the devastations left by the Infernal Columns.
- Worthy Opponent: Jean-Pierre Travot is the only military commander of the Republic's armies to earn respect from Charette. In turn, Travot acknowledges Charette's unflinching bravery upon executing him ("Soldiers, aim at the heart, that's how brave men die").
