Heath 1

The Horseman on the Roof: Romanticizing Cholera

Sarah Heath

History 110-50

February 27, 2015

The Horseman on the Roof is a French film produced in 1995 and directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. The movie was focused around an Italian exile, Angelo Pardi, while he is in France during the Italian Revolution against Austria. During the time depicted, 1832, cholera was a huge epidemic in southern France. Throughout the movie, there are several scenes showing people who have gotten cholera and Pardi is trying to save them from this horrible disease while also trying not to get it himself. He soon meets Pauline de Théus, a French countess, and comes to her rescue on a couple different occasions. The movie is supposed to focus on cholera and the revolution; however, it seems like the movie is more focused on the love interest between the two beautiful lead characters, Angelo and Pauline. The Horseman on the Roof seems to have left out major parts of cholera and romanticized this horrendous disease in order to increase views and in return, profit.

Cholera is a disease in which there are no prior symptoms and it happens relatively quickly. Usually, cholera victims are dead within hours of diagnosis, and in the beginning to mid-1800s, cholera resisted any and all attempts at stopping or slowing the disease.1It would start with the victim collapsing and the skin of the victim becoming very cold and black. Seizures, diarrhea, and vomiting would then pursue. Almost all cases of cholera ending in thedeath of the victim and that is why this disease made such a huge impact throughout the world during the 19thcentury.2

Another reason cholera made such an impact was the fact that no one knew exactly what cholera was or how it was spread. In a medical article published in 1854, Dr. Bottomley states “The unsatisfactory and almost chaotic character of the literature of Cholera is chiefly dependent upon the majority of authors giving no definition of what they mean by the term.”3 Bottomley means that a main reason cholera was so terrifying to the majority of people, especially commoners, was that they did not know much about the disease and they did not have the resources to research cholera. The ignorance of the effects of cholera caused widespread hysteria which led to cities and even countries becoming quarantined in order to keep cholera under control.4

Cholera has been proven to be around since the first case in 1629, however the first deadly outbreak of the disease was in India between 1817 and 1823, in which it killed hundreds of thousands of people.5Shortly after this spontaneous pandemic, the disease spread to the rest of Asia and Europe. By the mid-19th century, leading physicians were lecturing people about the fact that cholera is not as bad as it appears. Doctors were now lecturing people to maintain good hygiene in order to not contract cholera. This caused a decrease in the mass hysteria and a decrease in the disease, as well.6

The Horseman on the Roof is set in France in 1832. The movie is summarized as “a beautifully told cinematic story of devotion, honor and true love set in the breathtaking landscape of the Provence, France” and “beautifully photographed tale of devotion during trials.” 7The summary did not mention the fact that the focus of the movie was supposed to be cholera. It mentioned the fact that the two main characters are beautiful and that they are in love. The movie takes a horrible disease and omits or modifies parts that people would not want to see in order to make a profit.8

First of all, one symptom of cholera is diarrhea. Usually, immediately after the victim collapses, they would have uncontrollable diarrhea.9 However, the director completely omits this symptom from the movie. Obviously, diarrhea is a disgusting topic, and it would not be pleasing for an audience to watch a character have diarrhea, but it takes away from the severity of the disease.10

Additionally, in the movie, the amount of time it took for a person to die after collapsing was approximately five minutes. It is understandable that the movie is only a couple hours, so it is impossible to realistically show how long cholera took to kill people.11However, in some cases of cholera, it took twelve hours for a person to die after collapsing with the disease and the movie did not do a good job at showing that much time passing between the collapse and death.12By showing that it only took a few minutes for the disease to kill people, it also takes away from how severe the disease actually is.

Moreover, at the depicted time period, no one knew how to slow down or even completely stop cholera, especially commoners.13In the movie, however, Angelo seemed to know how to treat cholera. He would force the victim to drink alcohol to keep them hydrated while simultaneously rubbing them with alcohol. He practically brought Pauline back from the dead. In the movie, he ripped off her clothes and rubbed her entire body with alcohol and saved her life. Although keeping the victim hydrated would help against cholera, there is no proof that rubbing someone with alcohol would save them from this disease.14The director used the disease in order to take the clothes off the actress who played Pauline, Juliette Binoche and make the movie more appealing.

Also, despite the fact that neither Pauline nor Angelo would have been very educated at the time, they seemed to know a lot about cholera. In one specific scene, Pauline and Angelo walked in on a family eating dinner and proceeded to join them.15The family became hysterical once they found out that the couple were from Manosque, the city with a majority of cholera cases. Both Pauline and Angelo calmly told the family that they do not have the disease and could not give the disease to anyone else.16That is nearly impossible for them to know that being as it is only 1832.17

The movie is based off the novel, The Horseman on the Roof, written by Jean Giono and published in 1951. The book was a major hit in southern France and was made into a movie forty years later. The book is focused more on the adventurous side of Angelo as opposed to the love interest between Angelo and Pauline. In the summary of the book, Angelo “aids an altruistic doctor in futile attempts to save the dying, lives as a fugitive on the roofs on Manosque, helps a nun to dispose of the dead, and accompanies a beautiful young woman, Pauline, to her home near Gap.”18Giono focused more on the adventures of Angelo and how he tries to save people from cholera, whereas Rappeneau focused the movie more on the romance between the two main characters.19

One would ask why there is not only such a difference between the film and novel, and real life. One reason that the film is different from real life is because people want to watch romance. It would not be pleasing to the audience to simplyread about or watch people falling over, throwing up, and dying.20 There needs to be some excitement in order to maintain the attention of the reader. Therefore, Giono added adventure to Angelo’s life21 and Rappeneau added romance.22Additionally, it is said that in order to appreciate the good, people need to experience the bad. Rappeneau uses cholera to bring the two main characters together. They are both trying to avoid the disease, and at the end of the film, Angelo saves Pauline from her seemingly inevitable death. The disease ends up bringing these two characters together and therefore causes them to fall in love with each other.23

In conclusion, The Horseman on the Roof basically romanticized a deadly disease. The director, Rappeneau, chose to focus more on the romance between the two people instead of focusing on the history behind cholera. There were symptoms of cholera that were modified and some that were completely omitted solely for the purpose to make the movie more interesting.

Notes

  1. George Bottomley, “What is Cholera?,” Association Medical Journal 2, no. 91 (1854): p. 891 (hereinafter cited: Bottomley, p.)
  2. Ibid
  3. Ibid, p. 890
  4. Ibid
  5. G, “The History of Cholera,” The British Medical Journal 1, no. 329 (1867): p. 470
  6. Ibid
  7. “The Horseman on the Roof Movie Review,” Movie Guide: The Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment, last modified August 20, 2012, (hereinafter cited: “The Horseman on the Roof Movie Review”)
  8. Ibid
  9. Bottomley, p. 891
  10. Olivier Martinez and Juliette Binoche, The Horseman on the Roof, directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau (1995; France: Miramax, 2003), DVD (hereinafter cited: Martinez)
  11. Ibid
  12. Bottomley, p. 891
  13. Ibid, p. 890
  14. Martinez
  15. Ibid
  16. Ibid
  17. Bottomley, p. 890
  18. Jan Marta, “The Horseman on the Roof Review,” Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database, last modified July 3, 1997, (hereinafter cited: Marta)
  19. Martinez
  20. Bottomley, p. 891
  21. Marta
  22. “The Horseman on the Roof Movie Review”
  23. Martinez

Bibliography

Bottomley, George. “What is Cholera?” Association Medical Journal 2, no. 91 (1854): 890-891.

G. “The History of Cholera.” The British Medical Journal 1, no. 329 (1867): 470.

“The Horseman on the Roof Movie Review.” Movie Guide: The Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment. Last modified August 20, 2012.

Marta, Jan. “The Horseman on the Roof Review.” Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database. Last modified July 3, 1997.

Martinez, Olivier and Juliette Binoche. The Horseman on the Roof. Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. 1995. France: Miramax, 2003. DVD.