Monsieur Batignole (2002)
Directed by Gérard Jugnot

Film Review

Monsieur Batignole is a curious mix of farce, black comedy and drama which tells its story, one of friendship, moral redemption and personal rebirth, with great effect and understated charm.   It is Gérard Jugnot's eighth film as a director, and very probably his best work to date.  Film critics generally tend to find it hard to take seriously any successful actor who decides to turn his hand to directing, and Jugnot has earned more than his fair share of negative criticism.  With his most recent offerings, Meilleur espoir feminine (2000) and Monsieur Batignol, it looks as though Jugnot is managing to prove his credentials as a serious film director.

There have been many films set at the time of the Nazi Occupation of France during the Second World War.  What sets this film apart is that it does not clearly delineate between heroes and villains.  As Marcel Ophus made clear in his great documentary of the period Le Chagrin et la pitié (1971), the majority of French people were not evil collaborators or saintly resistance fighters.  Most were just ordinary men and women who were trying to muddle though as best they could.  Monsieur Batignole shows how easy it was for an ordinary man - brilliantly portrayed by Jugnot - to be caught up by events, one minute on the side of the collaborators, the next minute risking his life to save a Jewish boy.  Although Jugnot doesn't fully convey the sense of danger of the situation, he certainly manages to capture all of its humanity, so whilst the approach is a tad naïve and simplistic, its emotional impact is nonetheless significant.

With a meticulous attention to period detail, a finely honed script and excellent performances throughout (the four principal child actors are worthy of special mention), this is certainly Jugnot's best film from a technical point of view.  Admittedly, the film doesn't have the overwhelming impact that Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful (1997) had, but it still manages to pack quite a meaty punch.  French film enthusiasts will easily spot references to such classics as La Traversée de Paris (1956), La Grande illusion (1937) and La Grande vadrouille (1966).  Others will simply take pleasure in watching a beautifully made film which tells a simple story with great warmth and tenderness, and more than a touch of that trademark Jugnot humour.

Film Synopsis

Paris 1942.  With the French capital under Nazi control, Edmond Batignole struggles to make an honest living as a butcher.  When he finds that meat has been stolen from his store, he accuses the owner of the apartment above his shop, a Jewish surgeon named Bernstein.  The latter is in a hurry to flee with his family, but Batignole's intervention results in their being arrested by the French police.  The Jewish family was denounced by Pierre-Jean, an ambitious but unsuccessful writer who lives with the Batignoles and who hopes to marry their daughter.  In payment for this “good work”, the Nazis allow the Batignole family to move into the apartment of the arrested Jews.  Whilst the Batignoles are having a housewarming party, a young boy turns up on their doorstep - the one member of the Bernstein family to have escaped from the Germans.  His conscience pricked, Monsieur Batignole agrees to shelter the boy, Simon, for one night only.  The next day, Batignole realises that he cannot abandon the boy.  Instead, he agrees to try to reunite him with his family in Switzerland...