Lucie Aubrac (1997)

Director:

Claude Berri

Writers:

Lucie Aubrac (book)
Claude Berri (writer)

Release Date:

26 February 1997 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

A love story or a tale of the resistance, this poignant movie tells both the haunting story of a French...

Plot Keywords:

Wedding Anniversary | Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity | Truck | Husband Wife Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Carole Bouquet	...	Lucie Aubrac
Daniel Auteuil	...	Raymond
Patrice Chéreau	...	Max
Jean-Roger Milo	...	Maurice
Eric Boucher	...	Serge
Heino Ferch	...	Barbie
Bernard Verley	...	Charles-Henri
Jean Martin	...	Paul Lardanchet
Marie Pillet	...	Marie
Maxime Henry	...	Booboo
Alain Maratrat	...	Lassagne
Franck de la Personne	...	Aubry
Pascal Greggory	...	Hardy
Jean-Louis Richard	...	Mr. Henry
Hans Wyprächtiger	...	German colonel

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:M | Spain:13 | UK:12 | USA:R | France:U

Filming Locations:

Caluire, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France

Company:

Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)

A fine intimate portrayal of controversial historical events

First-rate acting and smooth direction make this personal recounting of controversial Resistance events well worth seeing. As with all films by Claude Berri, the storytelling is direct and the cinematography is both poignant and sensitive. Daniel Auteuil is great as usual. Carole Bouquet also contributes, albeit with less emotional range. The movie focuses as much on the love between Lucie and Raymond Aubrac as on the historical events surrounding them as they participate in the French Resistance to German occupation during World War II. The movie also contains powerful action scenes of escape and guerilla fighting (which the Germans considered terrorism at the time). Watch for a striking scene where Heino Ferch (as Klaus Barbie) tortures Auteuil (as Lucie's husband Raymond) to obtain information about Resistance leader "Max". Not only is this scene memorably acted and filmed, but it bears on a most controversial event in the history of the Resistance. The script follows a book by Lucie Aubrac that is ostensibly autobiographic. To this day, historians debate whether the Aubracs remained committed to the resistance or whether Raymond actually cracked under torture and betrayed resistance mastermind Jean Moulin ("Max"). Moulin was arrested soon after Raymond left prison and died a hero, refusing to speak under the torture of Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyons". These events and Barbie's much later in persona trial (1987) still rattle many people's understanding of the morals and history of France in the last sixty-plus years.