Overview
His wife having recently died, Thomas Jefferson accepts the post of United States ambassador to pre-revolutionary France, though he finds it difficult to adjust to life in a country where the aristocracy subjugates an increasingly restless peasantry. In Paris, he becomes smitten with cultured artist Maria Cosway, but, when his daughter visits from Virginia accompanied by her attractive slave, Sally Hemings, Jefferson's attentions are diverted.
Cast
- Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson
- Greta Scacchi as Maria Cosway
- Thandiwe Newton as Sally Hemings
- Gwyneth Paltrow as Patsy Jefferson
- Jean-Pierre Aumont as D'Hancarville
- Simon Callow as Richard Cosway
- Seth Gilliam as James Hemings
- James Earl Jones as Madison Hemings
- Michael Lonsdale as Louis XVI
- Nancy Marchand as Madame Abbesse