Why are there so many WWII films in French cinemas right now?

De Gaulle (Parts 1 and 2), Notre Salut (A Man of His Time) and Moulin are all in French cinemas now and are topping the box office while Les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays and Shadows) was released earlier this year – and all of them are set during the Second World War.

So is it just coincidence that all of these have arrived in front of cinemagoers now? Or is there something in the zeitgeist that is making the French turn back to the events of the 1940s?

The Local spoke to Marc Cerisuelo, professor of cinema history, and Jean-Michel Frodon, film critic and journalist, to explore what is driving this renewed interest in France’s wartime past.

Frodon told us: “The rise of Marine Le Pen’s far right Rassemblement National, and the possibility of its coming to power in the next presidential election are major factors.

“Many people are drawing parallels between the current political situation and what might happen under a new occupation or authoritarian regime.”

He cautioned, however, about drawing too direct a link between the past and the present, and pointed out that these are very different films.

“Each also has its own particular motivations, whether rooted in a filmmaker’s personal history, professional interests or artistic ambitions”, he said. 

The two-part De Gaulle follows Charles De Gaulle’s refusal to accept France’s surrender in 1940 and his efforts to rally the Resistance. Notre Salut explores the everyday workings of collaboration under Philippe Pétain, who led the Vichy regime and collaborated with Nazi Germany, its main charcater is based on the director’s great-grandfather. Les Rayons et les Ombres tells the story of the real-life collaborationist journalist Jean Luchaire (played by Jean Dujardin) and his daughter Corinne, while Moulin depicts the arrest and torture of Resistance leader Jean Moulin by the Gestapo in 1943.

For Cerisuelo, the recent films are the result of a combination of circumstances and opportunities, rather than necessarily a deliberate political response.

Revisiting France’s history of collaboration

While the De Gaulle and Moulin films celebrate well-known heroes of the Resistance (in fact the character of Jean Moulin also appears in the De Gaulle film) it’s notable that two of the films are about collaborators. Both are also based on real historical figures – the main character in Notre Salut is based on director Emmanuel Marre’s great-grandfather while the main character in Les Rayons et Les Ombres is the real-life collaborator Jean Luchaire, who was executed after the war.

“These films are particularly interesting because they explore aspects of the Second World War that French cinema has not previously examined in quite the same way,” said Frodon.

“They introduce complexity, uncertainty, nuance and questioning into historical narratives.”

For Cerisuelo, the most striking examples is Notre Salut. “For me, it is the best of the four films from a cinematic standpoint. It is a remarkable work because it shows how collaboration actually functioned, something French cinema has rarely managed to do so effectively.

“It focuses on the everyday and administrative mechanisms: ordinary meetings, professional relationships and bureaucratic processes. And that is where the horror becomes visible, through these seemingly mundane routines. It is a genuinely critical examination of collaboration and its structures. I hope it will reach a broad audience.”

Frodon similarly considers Notre Salut “the richest and most intelligent of the four films, and particularly uncompromising in its treatment of collaboration”.

Cerisuelo explained that France’s confrontation with collaboration has been gradual, with a major turning point coming around 50 years ago through the work of writers such as Patrick Modiano and historians including Robert Paxton, whose influential study of Vichy France helped reshape the historical debate.

Frodon, however, makes an important distinction – collaboration was not necessarily a taboo subject in French cinema. French films have previously explored Vichy, collaboration and the deportation of Jewish people, including the role played by French police in the deportations.

“Collaboration was not absent from French cinema, but it was not always at the centre of the dominant narrative about WWII,” he said. What makes the subject particularly relevant today, Frodon suggests, is the contemporary political context.

For Frodon, the films also raise questions about how individuals come to embrace far-right ideology and rationalise their political choices.

“It’s about how someone evolves in this situation” and how those who are openly opposed to the far right can nevertheless “construct intellectual arguments that eventually make them allies”.

While Notre Salut has been well received, Les Rayons et Les Ombres has been criticised by many for seeming too sympathetic towards its subjects.

“The screenplay is too easily drawn into its subject matter,” said Cerisuelo, arguing that it sometimes presents collaboration as a general French failing rather than examining individual responsibility.

“By focusing on individual figures without sufficiently examining their political choices, filmmakers can overlook the broader ideological implications of their actions.”

Frodon, however sees the film as “more ambiguous, introducing nuances and contradictions that can leave audiences unsettled”.

Who gets to claim De Gaulle?

De Gaulle director Antonin Baudry has been explicit that his film is aimed at young people, and invites them to consider their choices about whether to acquiesce or whether to resist. The films have been smash hits at the box office in France, and have secured distribution in the US, UK and Ireland.

Cerisuelo sees reasons for optimism in the success of the De Gaulle films, their popularity shows that historical cinema can resonate with audiences across generations, including younger viewers who are becoming increasingly distant from the events of the Second World War.

He also believes they convey an important political message: resistance remains possible, and the outcome of history is not inevitable.

“Things are not yet decided – we have to react and ask ourselves what our values are”, he said. 

But De Gaulle’s enduring appeal also raises questions about who gets to claim his legacy. Cerisuelo notes that the Rassemblement National and other political movements have sought to appropriate the former president’s image. While De Gaulle remains a “symbol of resistance”, his legacy is not the preserve of any one political movement.

Frodon makes a similar point, describing De Gaulle as a “customisable” figure whom movements with very different political orientations can invoke and interpret according to their own values.

“Its success demonstrates how audiences from across the political spectrum can project their own hopes and anxieties onto historical figures,” he said.

The films

Below are the trailers for the five films mentioned in this article – viewers in Paris can see the two DeGaulle films and Notre Salut with English subtitles via the cinema club Lost in Frenchlation. The De Gaulle films and Les Rayons et Les Ombres are also available on the pay-TV channel Canal+, on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

De Gaulle: Résistance (La Bataille de Gaulle : L’Âge de fer) – directed by Antonin Baudry

La Bataille de Gaulle – Partie 2 : J’écris ton nom – directed by Antonin Baudry

Les Rayons et les Ombres – directed by Xavier Giannoli

Notre Salut – directed by Emmanuel Marre

Moulin – directed by László Nemes