DE GAULLE RISES FROM COLONEL TO FRANCE’S MAIN DEFENDER
Often understood as an arrogant leader who kept Britain out of the European Economic Community and later became the leader of the French Fifth Republic, the film De Gaulle, directed by Gabriel Le Bomin, is a biopic of his role from April to June 1940, when he rises to prominence. Much screen attention is directed to his family, including his supportive wife Yvonne (played by Isabelle Carré) and youngest daughter Anne (Clémence Hittin), a victim of Down’s syndrome. Previously De Gaulle was a ghostwriter for Marshall Philippe Pétain, who achieved fame by achieving military success at Verdun in 1916. Now he is a relatively humble military commander.
In the beginning of the film, De Gaulle (Lambert Wilson) is commanding a unit of the French army that has won a victory over German invaders. Although his plea for more tanks and air support is supported by Defense Minister Georges Mandel (Gilles Cohen), who names De Gaulle as Deputy Defense Minister as well as Brigadier General. As German troops continue to win victories in eastern France, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud (Olivier Gourmet) secretly dispatches De Gaulle to London to seek support. Winston Churchill (Tim Hudson) is sympathetic but cautious because England is under air attack. After considerable debate, Pétain (Philippe Laudenbach) persuades the Cabinet to surrender, thereby saving Paris from destruction. De Gaulle again flies to London, and Churchill agrees to form an alliance while De Gaulle forms a Free French government-in-exile. Soon De Gaulle announces the arrangement on radio, whereupon he receives a telegram informing him that he has committed treason, no longer has French citizenship, and is ordered to return to France—an order that he of course will not obey. (In fact, Pétain, who set up the Vichy government in alliance with Nazi Germany, was convicted of treason after the war.)
Meanwhile, his family tries to find sanctuary on France’s Atlantic coast and soon boards a Dutch vessel for somewhere unknown at a time when Germans are bombing ships along the French coast. Whether they reach England is a bit of suspense that filmviewers await at the end of the film. Providing some of the inner tensions within the French government as German victories plow through France, the Politic https://www.npr.org/2018/11/14/668017468/betsy-devos-sued-for-failing-to-implement-automatic-student-loan-forgivenessal Film Society has nominated De Gaulle as best film exposé of 2011. MH
THE FRENCH DISPATCH HAS WEIRD STORIES TO LAUGHT AT
Another film with French dialog, The French Dispatch, was released the same day. The film is a fictional account of three absurd scenes covered by journalists using multisyllabic prose that is recited so rapidly that American audiences will fail to discern humor within French-style satire. The aim is for journalists to cover three segments taking place in France within the pages of a magazine presumably published in a Kansas town. Although the screenplay is definitely clever, appropriate laughter is therefore absent even though comedian Bill Murray is at the center as the magazine editor. MH