Full Description
It's 1942 in stormy, occupied Paris and times are hard for just about everyone. So who can blame Edmond Batignole, only a small businessman, for trying to get by? Who is he to object if the German Kommandant takes a liking to the foie gras he serves in his small, family delicatessen? Who is he to turn down a few francs? Why should he take notice if his Jewish neighbors are arrested? Batignole is surrounded by a colorful battery of French characters, who are all trying to make the best of their situation. Some collaborate with the Germans, while others resist. Batignole merely wants to make a living, yet because of his daughter's zealously pro-German fiance, he begins a long, slippery slide into full collaboration with the Germans. Then, unexpectedly, a Jewish child he knows asks him for help and Batignole can no longer keep his head in the sand. Gerard Jugnot, a director of popular social comedies, finds just the right tone in this bittersweet tale of innocence lost-which becomes taut as a thriller-when an ordinary man suddenly faces extraordinary life and death choices while his own redemption hangs in the balance.
