Monsieur Batignole

Plot synopsis:
In 1942, in Paris, which was seized by Germany, a grocer Edmond Batignole (Gérard Jugnot) is living with his family in his grocery building. He has a daughter who is soon to be married. His future son-in-law, Pierre-Jean (Jean-Paul Rouve) and his wife wanted the apartment owned by a Jewish family. When the property of all the Jews was confiscated the Batignole family got the apartment. The Jewish family was sent to transportation to Germany. After the Batignoles had occupied the apartment the Batignoles organise a party for the SS officials and during that party young Simon Bernstein (Jules Sitruk) of the Jewish family who had escaped from the Germans, returns to his home. Edmond Batignole feels sorry for the boy and hides him in the apartment from his family before anyone else could see him. Soon Simon's cousins meet him in the cellar of the grocery and the grocer plans to smuggle the children over the border to Switzerland. Edmond takes the dangerous trip to the border, where he and the children are nearly caught by the police. However, with the help of a kind woman and a priest, they are able to sneak over the border to safety in Switzerland.

Tags: murder

Review:
This does for the German occupation of France what "Life Is Beautiful" did for that of Italy.
The characters are well drawn and the camera sees the German  occupation through decidedly French eyes.
Though a very heavy subject, Monsieur Batignole approaches the French collaboration and attempts of two Jewish families to escape war-time Paris in an enjoyable manner that is so common of Jugnot.Jugnot plays one of his typical likeable characters who doesn't want to get involved, but finds himself nonetheless thrown in with three Jewish children as they attempt to escape to Switzerland.
Jean-Paul Rouve also does a fabulous job of acting, making you hate him just for playing his character.Well seasoned with humor, recognition and turning points, this is definitely a good film to see and perhaps even learn a lesson from..
Jules Sitruk definitely did a very good job in here.
I liked the way Gerard Jugnot and Jules interacted with each other.
The film manages to mix its humor with the seriousness of the subject without the awkwardness and maudlin artificiality of "Life is Beautiful."  I don't know if this has been released in the U.S.
Hen-pecked, simple butcher in occupied France finds himself thrust into heroism when a Jewish child appears on his doorstep seeking shelter..
Probably the best film I have seen so far this year.
The previous commenter's accusations of "terminal cuteness" baffle me - this is the best good-old-fashioned solid three-act structure Hollywood movie I have seen in a long time - and it was made in France.
If you can find it playing at your local Jewish Film Festival (about the only place you are likely to find it in the US - a shame, really, since it is not a film only for Jews)by all means buy your ticket and go..
Agreeable and attractive film dealing with a shop keeper who protects Jewish children against cruel Nazis.
Comedy/drama with splendid performance from Gerard Jugnot as a grocer who becomes involved numerous risks and adventures to save three little Jews .
1942 Paris is under Nazi occupation , there a store keeper named Edmond Batignole (Gerard Jugnot) benefits this situation .
Thanks to his future son-in-law , a notorious collaborationist (Jean-Paul Rouve) he organizes banquets for Germans .
However his life changes when a Jewish little boy appears in his door asking for help .
Later on , there appears his two Jews cousins , then Batignole decides to travel with three kiddies to Switzerland .This is an interesting comedy/drama/war developed in an occupied France during the 40s and based on writing credits by Philippe Lopes and Gerard Jugnot.
Extraordinary performances from duo protagonist, Gerard Jugnot acting similarly to Louis De Funes with excessive gesticulation , he plays an insignificant shop keeper turned into liberator hero and Jewish saving , and a likable kid stunningly interpreted by Jules Sitruk .
Enjoyable relationship between the obstinate shop keeper and the Jewish know-all boy .
This stirring and highly acclaimed riveting war comedy about a grocer who has intense relationship with a Jew boy is powered by marvelous performances being very well directed by Gerard Jugnot .
He has directed eleven films, generally , dramas and comedies , such as : 2008 Fashion victim, 2000 Meilleur Espoir Féminin 1994 Casque bleu , 1988 Sans Peur et sans Reproche ,1985 Scout Toujours , 1984 Pinot simple flic .
This is a rather good simple light movie about a heavy subject.
Despite its heavy WW II subjects, such as anti-semitic feelings, collaborates, this movie at all times remains a light and pleasant one to watch, due to its approach and way of storytelling.The movie is rather simplistic and there is not an awful lot of tension or even surprises in this movie really.
Yet the movie is effective since it is well made, has nice characters and a rather nice main plot line that it follows.The movie is build up well and sets up a good feeling and atmosphere of 1942 occupied Paris and the characters of the movie.
Too bad that about half way through the movie the movie suddenly takes another approach and becomes an almost entirely different movie, with different settings and also for some part different characters.
It's also obvious that they spent most time and effort on the first halve of the movie that is definitely better looking, more believable constructed and has a better flow.
In the second halve of the movie some unlikely events occur and the movie and story at times feels like it was done in a hurry and not everything flows well or reaches a satisfying conclusion.The movie has some good and enjoyable characters in it and the movie gets carried by Gérard Jugnot, who also directed and wrote the movie, who plays a rather unsympathetic and anti-hero at first but as the story develops he gets more and more human so the speak and starts showing his emotions and expresses his thoughts.
This is a nice approach for the main character that also works well for the story.
It's a great role by Gérard Jugnot, who shows how multi-talented he is.
The young Jules Sitruk also was great in a quite big role.
Jean-Paul Rouve was also greatly cast as the future son-in-law and collaborator.The movie is a good watch but overall the movie is just a bit too light and simplistic to leave a really lasting or powerful impression.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
Redemption In Times of War. In 1942, in an occupied Paris, the apolitical grocer Edmond Batignole (Gérard Jugnot) lives with his wife and daughter in a small apartment in the building of his grocery.
When his future son-in-law and collaborator of the German Pierre-Jean Lamour (Jean-Paul Rouve) calls the Nazis to arrest the Jewish Bernstein family, they move to the confiscated apartment.
Some days later, the young Simon Bernstein (Jules Sitruk) escapes from the Germans and comes to his former home.
When Batignole finds him, he feels sorry for the boy and lodges him, hiding Simon from Pierre-Jean and also from his wife.
When Pierre-Jean finds the children, Batignole decides to travel with the children to Switzerland.What a delightful movie this "Monsieur Batignole" is!
The story is realistic, balancing dramatic situations with some funny scenes, like, for example, when Batignole is called in the train station to help a German soldier with a twisted knee.
Another interesting and quite original aspect is the unusual number of French collaborators, since it is very difficult to see a movie that recognizes that they did exist in times of war.
Further, Monsieur Batignole is not the usual hero, but a man driven by the reality to have a heroic action instead.
The boy Jules Sitruk steals the movie with his attitudes, and Gérard Jugnot and Jean-Paul Rouve are fantastic.
This movie suffers from terminal cuteness..
Even treating such a horrible subject, Gérard Jugnot does what he's been doing for over 20 years : playing and directing average french citizens facing not so ordinary situations(of unemployment in Une epoque formidable, of the sects in Fallait Pas, of being a father of a famous actress in Meilleur espoir Féminin...etc.,etc.).
Every french citizen was pro-german during the war and pro-De Gaulle in 1945.
The best part is when he's taking the 3 jewish children nearby the swiss border.
The french people living there are supposed to have a strong accent (as the kids).
Nah. It just falls flat on every level : ludicrous dialogues, comedy, drama, war, suspense (ooooohhhh, are the poor children going the get caught by the nasty nazi???
Despite enjoying a high-profile in France where he has been writing, directing and starring in films for 20 years, ex-Splendid member Gerard Jugnot remains virtually unknown outside his own country.
As an actor only he is starring in 'Les Choristes' which opened in April and is still playing in several large salles in Paris in September.
Clearly this year's 'Amelie' it has already been seen by well over one million people which SHOULD justify release abroad but distributors are queer cattle; we wait in London for 'Le Choristes' yet a piece of merde like 'Merci Dr. Rey' which played two weeks in ONE salle in Paris before being yanked has already been and gone in London leaving as much trace here as it did in Paris.
Meanwhile this entry from 2002 shows Jugnot at his best in all three departments; he has written a good, solid well-made script, directed it to perfection and for good measure thrown in a leading performance as good as anything around.
The setting is Paris under German Occupation.
Edmond Batignole is a middle-aged hen-pecked butcher living with a wife, daughter and the daughter's fiancé, Jean-Pierre Lamour (Jean-Paul Rouve) an open collaborator who writes vitriolic articles for a fascist journal.
At the outset a small boy crawls through a grating to steal a precious ham from the shop and when the theft is discovered Lamour is quick to point the finger at Simon Bernstein (Jules Sitruck) the small son of a Jewish doctor, who lives in a lavish apartment.
By coincidence the Bernsteins en masse are just about to flee so for good measure Lamour places the telephone call which results in their arrest and subsequent detainment in Vel d'Hiv (Velodrome d'Hiver, a large stadium on the outskirts of Paris which was used at the time as a holding centre for Jewish detainees prior to their shipment to Germany).Given Lamour's connections the Batignole family are soon living in comparative luxury in the Bernstein's apartment and Batignole has a lucrative contract to supply meat to the German High Command.
Then one day Batignole answers a ring on the doorbell to find young Simon Bernstein standing there.
Against his better judgment Batignole hides the boy and brings him food then, learning from Simon that two female cousins, Sara and Guila Cohen, are being 'looked after' elsewhere in Paris, Batignole attempts to offload Simon on the same carer but to no avail.
Things come to a head when Batignole brings food to Simon only to discover the two girls have joined him.
During a heated exchange Lamour winds up slightly dead and Batignole flees with the children and eventually is able to leave them at the Swiss border where, after a moment's hesitation, he joins them.
This is much more than the cross between Noel Coward's 'Fumed Oak' in which a hen-pecked husband finally leaves his wife, daughter and his country and Nevil Shute's 'Pied Piper' in which a middle-aged man caught in France in June, 1940, agrees to take two children back to England and winds up with seven, that it appears on first sight.
The period detail is spot on and Jugnot has managed to coax brilliant performances from the three children, primarily Jules Sitruck as Simon.
Guitry speaks scathingly of the play and, stung, Lamour says 'You have insulted me', 'Yes', replies Guitry, 'but I don't do it for a living'.
Until the distributors get real there is probably little chance of seeing this film other than on DVD and even then you'll have to buy it in France.
A minor feel-good tale that owed the viewers more intense and dramatic moments ....
With his bald head, bushy mustache and below average stature, Gérard Jugnot has always been type-casted as the typical French guy, definitely not the leading type by Alain Delon or Lino Ventura's standards.Yet, for an audience avid of characters to mock and/or to identify with, Jugnot's always been one of the most instantly recognizable and popular of all the French actors, thanks or because of the physical qualities I described.
To give you a hint, when he shaved his legendary mustache for the first time, it was like a national event in France.
In fact, though they played in different registers, Jugnot was the eternal 'average Jean' like Woody Allen the 'neurotic nerd'.
And with the same artistic talent, Jugnot was capable to turn what could be seen as a handicap into a true career's asset, when he started directing himself in the early 80's.Jugnot had his breakthrough film as an actor/director by playing "Pinot, simple cop", in the underrated "Wonderful Times", he embraced the economical crisis of the early 90's as Berthier, a guy who lost everything and started living in the streets.
And in 2002, he played another memorable anti-heroic role as Edmond Batignole, a Parisian butcher who starts hiding Jewish children and helps them to get to the Swiss border during the Occupation.
Although the film can be seen as the typical 'ordinary hero' tale and lesson of courage and integrity, it's not "Life is Beautiful" material and looks more like the kind of TV drama you'd watch on a Thursday night.
Strangely enough, the film doesn't have the stylish ambition its story would have called for, a pity considering the potential of the titular character.Batignole's qualities are efficiently highlighted by contrast: he's not as opportunistic as his wife or as zealous as his soon-to-be son-in-law Pierre Jean, a wannabe playwright and notorious collaborator.
The film opens in 1942, Batignole, as the brave worker who gets up early finds out that his rabbits were stolen.
Convinced that only a child could have entered the warehouse, he questions Dr. Bernstein about his son, keeping him upstairs while Pierre-Jean, smelling the attempt to escape, calls the police, Batignole has some rude words against Dr. Bernstein, not because he's a Jew, but because of his snobbishness.
The family ends up being arrested and realizing his participation–Pierre-Jean calls it a deliberate diversion- Batignole understands that his views about class struggles are outdated by a much bigger issue.Yet he acted like a collaborator and thanks to his help, Pierre-Jean pulled some strings to convince Gestapo officers to take Batignole as a caterer.
He reluctantly accepts this promotion, he who fought the Germans during the Great War and it's obvious that there is a big part of remorse regarding the Bernstein family.
One day though, he finds Simon Bernstein who managed to escape from the Police and an opportunity to redeem himself.
He hides Simon and two other girls in his cave, and in the process, kills Pierre-Jean off-screen, when he was about to call the Police.
The film's first act is an occasion to remind of the disgrace of the collaboration and humanity of those who jeopardized her lives by protecting Jews.Jean-Paul Rouve is a scene-stealer as the treacherous Pierre-Jean and received a César award for Most Promising Newcomer, the film's only win and nomination.
I personally believe that not showing Pierre-Jean's death was a mistake that hurt the film's impact regarding the significance of the character as a first-rate villain and the pivotal role his killing played in Batignole's life.
I wonder how the death of Pierre-Jean would have looked on-screen, maybe it wouldn't have worked, but it would have liberated the kind of energy the film mostly lacked.
Instead, Jugnot chose the 'easy way', and wasted acting talents for scenes that only consisted on words, while the actions speak much better.The most significant moment is the climactic confrontation with the Vichy Police, the level of tension is perfect when Batignole is asked about Simon, but then, realizing he's not believed, Batignole pretends to be a Jew and starts an inspirational speech accusing the French collaboration.
More than a genuine expression of disgust, it sounds like the kind of crowd-pleasing statements intended to raise the eternal 'what would have we done?' question about France's responsibility in the deportation of Jews.
Some viewers believe that France resisted and movies like this continue to convey a negative image.
Some others believe that such films are essentials, and then some consider that France should approach other historical themes like the unwounded war with Algeria or slavery.I'm sure Jugnot didn't just make another 'Holocaust' film but his climactic speech would have made a more impacting pay-off if the film had featured more intense moments before.
Instead, it flirts with many war dramas' archetypes: the good-hearted bishop, the lonely woman who gives her house and body, with such a sort of detachment that I wonder if Jugnot really trusted his material.
Jules Sitruk also gives a nice performance as Simon Bernstein, but he never seemed to grasp the gravity of his condition.
The film lacked the kind of powerful shocks where Batignole would have slapped him for his own good, would Simon scream or insult him?
Maybe, but that's because the kid acted more like HIS generation and his performance needed a 'better' directing.
And the two girls didn't have much screen time to grab our interest.The film is a good tribute to anonymous heroes who helped France to keep its honor and only Gérard Jugnot could have pulled such a performance.
But it feels like he took the premise of granted and shot the film in a rush, filling it with inspirational speeches yet preventing it for the kind of energy and tension, we expect from a WWII drama..
This is a well acted true story about a Pork Butcher who helped three Jewish children escape from the Nazis.
It challenges the perception that many English people have had about the way that French people behaved during the Nazi occupation, by looking at the situation in a more even-handed manner.
It does, however, not shy away from the issue of French collaboration with the Nazis, nor does it shy away from the issue of real prejudice against Jewish people.
The characters are imbued with the different shades of humanity that most people display, and the quality of the direction and acting lift this even more.
This is the first time I have seen a film directed by Gerard Jugnot, and I am impressed with his direction, as I am with his acting.
I had previously seen Sitruk in 'Son of Rambow' and assumed he was an English actor doing a bad French accent.
He is French, and really very good!