La Révolution française is a two-part 1989 historical drama co-produced by France, Germany, Italy and Canada for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution.

It purports to tell a faithful and neutral story of the Revolution, from the calling of the Estates-General to the death of Maximilien de Robespierre.

In a private lunch following the incident, Marie Antoinette gives Louis a few ideas, such as using force should the people refuse the King's demands.

The situation only worsens after King Louis XVI accepts the resignation of finance minister Jacques Necker, a friend and popular figure of the people, who then returns to Switzerland.

Desmoulins arrives at the Palais-Royal and delivers the news on 12 July, along with an impassioned call to arms to the crowd to defend themselves against Swiss and German troops who would attack them.

When Desmoulins' friend and colleague Georges Danton hears the news and then learns of troops already attacking citizens during efforts to get them to disperse, he delivers a fiery speech at Paris' Cordeliers Convent asking every man in the district to volunteer to fight and proclaiming that they will not allow tyranny to triumph over liberty.

At the start of October, in the middle of a severe bread shortage, Versailles holds a welcoming banquet for Flanders Regiment officers after they arrive to defend the palace as a precaution.

The day after the missive is sent, thousands of women march to demand bread and then turn towards Versailles, and male revolutionaries also join after Danton exhorts them to do so as a matter of honor and to protect what they have won.

Soon afterwards, riots against the clergy are incited due to their continued monarchist sentiment, and many attacks against clergymen, churches, cathedrals, and monasteries occur across France.

The Mayor of Paris, Jean Sylvain Bailly, is forced to declare martial law after Danton and his supporters gather at the Champ de Mars.

Taking this as a sign of hostility, Bailly orders his troops to open fire, despite Lafayette's efforts to maintain peace between both sides.

A few weeks later, Louis XVI and the National Assembly declare war on the great powers of Europe, but Robespierre knows that the campaign will be a disaster, and his prediction initially proves to be true.

Back at the Tuileries, the insurrectionists break through the Palace gates, and an intense firefight ensues between the Swiss Guards and the revolutionaries.

With the King deposed and Danton serving as Justice Minister, Desmoulins believes that everything they have done in the Revolution is over and they can finally rest, but Robespierre overrules this by pointing out it could only be the beginning.

Death warrants are issued against purported enemies of the Revolutionary forces, with many thronging the steps pleading for Danton to spare a relative, or a friend.

On 20 September, French forces fight and emerge victorious over the Prussians at the Battle of Valmy, and celebrations ring out throughout France and the National Assembly.

The next day, Louis declares before the assembly that his conscience is clear, and that the worse thing that wounded his heart were the accusations that he had shed the blood of the people.

Shortly afterwards, his own son, Louis Charles, is taken by soldiers to be tutored by a man named Citizen Simon, much to the dismay of Marie Antoinette.

Soon after, a young woman named Charlotte Corday hears a speech criticizing and denouncing Marat, and decides to act.

During Marat's funeral, Robespierre proposes new granaries for the starving populace to resounding support (Corday is afterward executed offscreen).

Jacques Hébert then testifies before the court that whilst he was interrogating Citizen Simon, the latter had said he had seen the boy do "indecent and harmful acts", and then questioned him on who had taught him these things, to the young Capet admitting it was his mother and aunt, also admitting he had been forced to sleep with both of them, and that they "committed acts of debauchery", to which Marie Antoinette responds with an emotional appeal to all mothers in the room, crying out that "Nature itself reels from such an accusation".

Danton later gives a speech in front of the Convention, calling it a "den of faction, lies, and insanity", seeing churches desecrated outside, and asks, "is this the Republic we wanted to create?"

Saint-Just finds a letter uncovering a conspiracy between Desmoulins' wife Lucile with some aristocrats to free Camille and Danton.

The Committee starts denouncing Robespierre, saying that he has "executed more people in the last two months than in the last two years", although he is defended by ardent supporters such as Saint-Just.

At the Convention, Robespierre makes a speech detailing his situation, from his perspective, to his hearers, whilst his political enemies decide to stop him in his tracks on that day.

The next day, Robespierre, Saint-Just, and other prominent Robespierrists are taken to the Place de la Révolution and guillotined, effectively marking the end of the Reign of Terror.

Balmer received great praise from critics and audiences for his portrayal of a rather sympathetic Louis XVI, and Seweryn was considered very convincing as Robespierre.