Fabien Onteniente (“Camping”) changes register this evening on France 2 with “Les Enfants des Justes”, a dramatic fiction with Mathilde Seigner and Gérard Lanvin, which takes place in France during the Second World War.
What is it about ?
In France in 1942. Blanche and Virgile live in the free zone, along the demarcation line. Both help a local network of resistance fighters by serving, thanks to Virgil’s boat, as smugglers for a growing number of refugees. As the war intensifies, the couple, who cannot have children, one day proposes to take in Sarah, 10 years old, a Jewish child who is impatiently awaiting her parents…
The Children of the Righteous, Wednesday March 23 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2
Who is it with?
Mathilde Seigner and Gérard Lanvin play Blanche and Virgile Laborie, a childless couple who will welcome Sarah, a 10-year-old Jewish child abandoned by her parents. It is Ambre Pallas, who played Lili in season 6 of Sam, who portrays this key character.
Philippe Torreton plays Doctor Dujarric, who takes care of bringing Jewish people safely to the free zone. Danièle Lebrun (Ensemble, c’est tout), François Bureloup (Cherif), Cyril Lecomte (Sophie Cross) and Sophie Guillemin (H24) complete the cast.
Well worth a look ?
Accustomed to making us laugh with popular comedies such as Camping, All Inclusive or Disco, Fabien Onteniente, director and co-author of Les Enfants des Justes is making a 180 degree turn with this dramatic fiction adapted from the eponymous novel by Christian Signol, which transports directly to the years 1942.
While the war is raging, a couple of childless farmers living in the free zone join a network of resistance fighters to transport refugees by boat. Very quickly, they will take in a little Jewish girl who will change their lives.
With Les Enfants des Justes, Fabien Onteniente aimed to tell the story of ordinary French people who took risks in order to save Jews from a disastrous fate. Fascinated by this historical period, he was keen to make a war film that tells the small story in the big one.
If the narration remains classic, and the twists predictable, this fiction is nonetheless pleasant to watch thanks in particular to the sober interpretation of the two main actors.
Mathilde Seigner and Gérard Lanvin, who already have a long career behind them, once again prove their talents in this subtle register.
The young Ambre Pallas, who gets her second big role on the small screen here, shines in her interpretation of Sarah, a little girl who has lost everything and who will have to get used to her new life.
The broadcast on France 2 of the Children of the Righteous takes place within the framework of a great evening around the period of our history which led to the occupation of France by Nazi Germany and to the collaboration. The 90-minute fiction will be followed by a new documentary “Infrarouge”: La rafle des notables, adaptation of the eponymous book by Anne Sinclair.