Monsieur Léon (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Pierre Boutron

Release Date:

26 July 2006 (Belgium)

Plot Keywords:

Bordeaux | Grandfather Grandson Relationship | WWII | Character Name In Title

Cast

Michel Serrault	...	M. Léon
Florence Pernel	...	Irène
Clémentine Célarié	...	Raymonde
Georges Claisse	...	Ziegler
Annie Grégorio	...	Odette
Arthur Vaughan-Whitehead	...	Yvon
Stefan Elbaum	...	Jean
Christian Loustau	...	André
Frédéric Bouchet	...	François
Géraldine Loubet	...	Mme Goldstein
Jeff Bigot	...	M. Goldstein
Lucie-Cerise Bouvet	...	Louison Goldstein (as Cerise Bouvet)
Vincent Valladon	...	Adrien
Franck Beckmann	...	L'ordonnance de Ziegler (as Franck Beckman)
Joël Barc	...	M. Garreau
Yvan Bernard	...	Le chauffeur de bus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marc Brun
Jack Delbalat	...	L'officier allemand à la gare
Françoise Dubois	...	Une femme
Jules Ferran	...	Le cheminot
Dominique Garras	...	La dame à la fenêtre
Jurgen Genuit	...	Le soldat Helmut
Frédéric Kneip	...	Un Gestapiste
Laurent Larrieu	...	L'homme avec Raymonde
Bertrand Milliot	...	Un Gestapiste

Directed by
Pierre Boutron

Produced by
Christophe Louis	....	co-producer
Jacques Salles	....	producer

Original Music by
Angélique Nachon
Jean-Claude Nachon

Film Editing by
Patrice Monnet

Art Direction by
Denis Seiglan

Costume Design by
Eve-Marie Arnault

Makeup Department
Laurence Azouvy	....	key makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nicolas Adelet	....	first assistant director
Sybil Rerat	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Dominique Grillet	....	property master

Sound Department
Eric Bonnard	....	sound re-recording mixer
Michel Filippi	....	adr supervisor
Jean-Pierre Halbwachs	....	supervising sound editor
Guillaume Sciama	....	sound

Stunts
Laurent Larrieu	....	stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Julien Cauvin	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Françoise Dubois	....	wardrobe assistant
Annie Paris	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Guillaume Bauer	....	on-line editor

Production Companies

• BE-FILMS

Runtime:

France:90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Company:

BE-FILMS

Slow start, more emotions during second half

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film was shown yesterday Monday July 30th 2007 as a result of Michel Serrault's death earlier on that day. Serrault had been in a series of films where he was playing with younger generation actors, notably in "Le Papillon" with Claire Bouaniche and "Une Hirondelle A Fait le Printemps" with Mathilde Saignier. Monsieur Leon is a similar sort of film but with totally different subject matter. Set in the 1940's in occupied southwestern France - I assume Bordeaux. A young lady from Paris is working for the resistance movement and is sent to the south. Her husband, an aviator has already been killed in action. She therefore leaves Paris with her little son and whilst she is engaged in resistance activities, the son must stay with his paternal grandfather ( Serrault ) who is a doctor by trade and lives in the Bordeaux Area. He lives alone but has a housekeeper. Because he is often seen with the occupant Germans, tending and nursing them, most of the village take him to be a collabo(rateur), i.e. a French citizen working with the Nazi occupiers. The little boy is disgusted at this and whilst having to remain alone with his grandfather whilst his Mum is elsewhere, has a problem communicating with him as he is so shocked by what he sees. But, things are not quite as they seem and although Serrault, exteriorily is hob-nobbing with the Germans, he is in fact working with the underground, helping to hide and evacuate Jewish families etc etc. However the boy's ostensible dislike for his grandfather does in fact help to "offset" the covert activities of the latter with regard to the Germans and enables him to remain above suspicion. The first part of the film is fairly flat and uninteresting, and depicts situations already seen in countless other films...however in the second half, things hot up and resistance members are captured by the Germans...Serrault is obliged to help his daughter-in-law and grandson to escape, thereby revealing his true identity to the Germans .. I confess to enjoying this and will readily buy it when it comes out on DVD. The fact that a child is involved in this sort of story inevitably produces increased emotions. For some strange reason during the last ten years of so, France has produced a spate of World War II films as if there was a sudden feeling of wanting to "evacuate" past guilt relating to collaboration with the Germans.