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Jefferson in Paris Directed by James Ivory, Jefferson in Paris chronicles the years (1784-1789) that Thomas Jefferson spends as the American ambassador to France. These are significant years for him in his public and personal life, also fateful ones for France, where the Revolution is about to break out. Jefferson is 41 years old when he arrives from Virginia, accompanied by his elder daughter, Patsy, and slave James Hemings. His wife, Martha, died two years earlier, and six years before that he drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence. Three principle storylines develop throughout the movie. The first plot relates to Jefferson's affiliation with painter Maria Cosway, the second follows changes in Jefferson’s relationship with his youngest daughter’s slave, fifteen-year old Sally Hemings, and the last is an observation of how Jefferson reacts to the political events leading up to the French Revolution. Mar