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Other Saint-Justs This page is dedicated to other Saint-Justs: characters and other things that bear Louis Antoine's name and in some cases, were possibly inspired by him. If you know of a Saint-Just not mentioned here, please feel free to contribute by emailing susanna at saint-just dot net.
A Saint Named Just I know very little about Catholicism, but some Internet research led me to discover that there are several Catholic saints named Justus. However, the only detailed information I could find about any particular Saint Just was in relation to another saint, Viateur, who lived in the fourth century. Saint Just was Viateur's bishop. Just left France to atone in the desert in Egypt after he believed he was partially to blame for a murderer's death. Viateur was "much beloved" by Just and went with him, and they remained together for the rest of their lives. Saint Just died first, but when Viateur wept and asked "Why do you leave me?" the dying Just assured him that he would soon follow. Viateur died a few days later. Interestingly, Viateur also has a connection to the French Revolution. Father Louis Querbes, born in 1793, wanted to re-Christianize France after the religion had been driven out by the Revolution. He founded the Clerics of Saint Viateur devoted to the Christian education of youth. Viateur has been honored in more modern times by having a Canadian bagel shop named after him. There is also the painting Le Martyre de Saint Just by Eugène Delacroix in 1853, depicting a man holding his own head. I could not find any information on this painting, so I do not know if it is of a saint named Just (as the style would suggest) or is symbolic of Saint-Just. Delacroix was a French Romantic painter most famous for his Liberty Leading the People, inspired by the 1830 Revolution. Delacroix, like Robespierre and Desmoulins, studied at Louis-le-Grand, and he was a student of Guerin, who painted Antoine Saint-Just and who in turn was a student of David. It is rumored that Delacroix was Talleyrand's son. If you know more about the saints and have better information than me, please let me know!
Alien: Resurrection I happened to come across this Saint-Just by accident. Alien: Resurrection is one of my favorite movies, and I was doing a web search for the script by Joss Whedon, of Buffy and Firefly fame. While not in the movie or the later draft of the script, there is a character named St. Just in an early draft posted many places online (and often cited incorrectly as the shooting script). Whedon describes the character: "ST JUST ("San-Jhoost") is slim, Asian -- and the epitome of cool," and he wears a "floor-length leather duster." Despite being Asian, St. Just's name is pronounced the French way. Since A:R takes place in the far future (250-odd years after the first Alien movie), it's uncertain what sort of nationalities still exist on Earth. There's no indication that the A:R St. Just has any relation to the real one. St. Just is a member of the spacecraft Betty's crew of smugglers who bring in cryogenically-preserved human "cargo" to the military, who intend to use the captives as breeding-grounds for the aliens they are raising. He seems to bear some of the same edge as the real Saint-Just, as shown in this scene where he plays poker with some of his crewmates. ST JUST: Raise you two hundred. JOHNER: Oh, f*** you! CALL: That's it. I'm out. I'm f***ed. She throws down her cards, takes a swig of Johner's patented moonshine. It tastes horrible. CHRISTIE: That takes me down, too. Johner? JOHNER: Uh, uh, f*** it. I fold. (to St Just) What do you got? St Just calmly shuffles his cards back into the deck. ST JUST: You'll always wonder. St. Just is also good with his guns, keeping them hidden in his sleeves and able to slide them into his hands at a moment's notice. This action is used in the movie, only by the character Christie. The same happens with many of St. Just's good lines and actions; they are given to characters who made it to the final script. In a fight with the aliens not in the final draft, St. Just is badly wounded. Saying "I'm bored," he tells the others to leave him, and while they escape, he holds off the aliens as long as he can by firing at them. The last we see of him, he has run out of ammunition. His fate is not shown but is easy enough to guess. To me this seems like how the real Saint-Just would behave if mortally wounded by aliens. At least the "I'm bored" part, anyway. The draft script featuring Saint-Just can be read here.
Saint Just: The Band The band called Saint Just was Italian and of the genre known as "progressive Italian rock." I do not know what progressive rock is, but one site gives their sound as a mix of "folk, psychedelia, and classical influences." It seems they are not a typical example of the Italian prog sound. When I listened to their songs, oddly enough I was reminded of a Celtic sound but that's probably just my lack of knowledge about music! The lead singer of the band was Jane Sorrenti, who later recorded solo under the name of Jenny. Saint Just released two albums: a self-titled album in 1973, and "La casa del lago" in 1974. Each album has only six tracks. Apparently the band is named for Antoine Saint-Just, as the last track on their self-titled album is called "Saint Just" and is about the French Revolution. For the lyrics to this song, please visit the Music to Revolt By page.
Viscount Saint Just Viscount Saint Just hails from Kasey Michaels' Maggie books - Maggie Needs an Alibi and Maggie By the Book. I read neither romance nor mysteries (except for the occasional Miss Marple) but from what I gather, Maggie is a former romance writer who turns to historical mysteries featuring the Regency-era noble turned detective Alexandre Blake, Viscount Saint Just. Yes, I know, gag-worthy. Things sound a little better when Saint Just turns up in real life and helps Maggie solve murder mysteries. A little better. Obviously the only thing aristocratic, self-absorbed, presumably British Alex has in common with Antoine is his devastating good looks.
Oscar Saint-Just Even more eye-roll-worthy as Michaels' world is that
of David Weber in his Honor Harrington series. Weber's series is science
fiction-- described by Amazon as a "space opera"-- focusing
on a female commander named Honor Harrington. The French Revolution
comes in in the form of Weber's characters stolen directly from history
such as "Rob Pierre" (gag) and his second-in-command Oscar
Saint-Just. (Why Weber bothered changing SJ's first name is beyond
me since everything else is such a blatant rip-off.) This excerpt
from In Enemy Hands explains the situation pretty well: Apparently Weber's world is somewhat different from revolutionary France in that when Honor gets pregnant by her married lover, she enters a (legal) polygamous marriage with him and his wife so the baby will be legitimate. What a gem of a woman. Since I can't bring myself to read more than a few lines of the stuff, I don't know much more about Oscar Saint-Just's personality other than that he is completely loyal to Pierre and will not attempt to overthrow him, even given ample opportunity. At least someone in Weber's world has honor, even if Harrington doesn't. If you really want to get involved in this nonsense, you can read part of In Enemy Hands online.
Rei Asaka - Hana no Saint-Just The only female Saint-Just I found hails from the manga and anime Oniisama E... (Brother, Dear Brother) by Riyoko Ikeda, author of Rose of Versailles. Oniisama is about a girl named Nanako who writes to one of her former teachers as her "older brother," which seems to be a Japanese concept of an older young man a girl adopts as a brother-like advisor and friend. Rei is a popular yet androgynous girl at Nanako's school who is nicknamed "Hana no Saint-Just" (Japanese for "Saint-Just of Flowers") due to her personality being similar to Saint-Just's (though she really resembles Lady Oscar more than Saint-Just in Berubara!). Nanako falls in love with Rei, but Rei commits suicide (it figures), and Nanako eventually meets a boy she likes. As much as I dislike unhappy endings and sad stories, I'll probably never watch Oniisama E, but it sounds like quite a beautiful series. The two images below come from this Oniisama E website run by Arashi. Rei in the manga
Saint-Just Castle Part of the 60's "super-thief" movie Diabolik takes place in "Saint-Just Castle," where Diabolik steals some gem or another. According to IMDB, the movie is set in "a generic European country" but Saint-Just is pronounced in the British way (long a, short u). Diabolik had the honor of being the movie featured in the last episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is the only reason I ended up watching it. It's an absolutely terrible movie, and even the MSTed version wasn't much fun. |
