Line of Demarcation

1941, a small village in the Jura. The river Loue splits the village in two, and one side of that line is under German occupation while the other is the free zone. Pierre, a French officer released from German captivity, finds his château turned into a German command post. He is obliged to live under the same roof as the occupiers. His wife Mary is helping the resistance and getting people across to the other side of the line. The source is the memoirs of Gilbert Renault, who wrote under the name Colonel Rémy; Renault really did work in the intelligence network of Free France. Claude Chabrol's film stands outside his usual vein; there is no bourgeois irony here, just a plain account of occupation. Jean Seberg plays Mary and Maurice Ronet plays Pierre. Two hours. The story does not turn the resistance into an epic of heroism; most people are afraid, and who will do what is not clear until the last moment.