De Gaulle: Résistance

June 1940. The French army has collapsed within weeks, the government has fled south and an armistice is being signed. The argument goes on in the meetings: some ministers say the war is over, some propose continuing from the colonies, and nobody can decide. One general refuses. He flies to London. He has no authority, no soldiers under him and no government behind him. He asks permission to speak on the radio. There are people in the British government against granting it. Antonin Baudry directs. Simon Abkarian, Simon Russell Beale and Benoît Magimel are in the cast. It is a French production. The event behind the narrative is historical; the radio address made in June is remembered in France as the beginning of the resistance, and no recording of that speech survives. The real matter it treats is legitimacy; the question of where one man gets the right to speak for his country sits at the centre. The narrative takes place largely in meeting rooms and there is almost no battle. The argument on the British side is an important strand; London's recognition of this man is shown as a matter of political calculation. It dates from 2026 and the period reconstruction is detailed. Its limit is pace; the narrative rests on talk and the dramatic rise is limited. Who it is for: viewers who like historical political drama. Who it is not for: little happens, the talk is dense, and it asks for historical context.