The Horseman on the Roof: Romanticizing Cholera
Sarah Heath
History 110-50
February 27, 2015
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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.1 It 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 the
death of the victim and that is why this disease made such a huge impact throughout the world
during the 19th century.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
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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.5 Shortly 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.” 7 The
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
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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.11 However, 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.12
By 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.13 In 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.14 The 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.15 The 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.16 That is nearly impossible for them to know that being
as it is only 1832.17
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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.”18 Giono 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 simply read 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.22 Additionally, 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.
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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, http://www.movieguide.org
/reviews/the-horseman-on-the-roof.html (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 JeanPaul 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
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18. Jan Marta, “The Horseman on the Roof Review,” Literature, Arts, and Medicine
Database, last modified July 3, 1997, http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=
view&annid=425 (hereinafter cited: Marta)
19. Martinez
20. Bottomley, p. 891
21. Marta
22. “The Horseman on the Roof Movie Review”
23. Martinez
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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. http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/thehorseman-on-the-roof.html.
Marta, Jan. “The Horseman on the Roof Review.” Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database. Last
modified July 3, 1997. http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=425
Martinez, Olivier and Juliette Binoche. The Horseman on the Roof. Directed by Jean-Paul
Rappeneau. 1995. France: Miramax, 2003. DVD.