Monsieur Batignole

In occupied Paris, the butcher Edmond Batignole tries to run his business without getting involved. His son-in-law denounces their Jewish neighbours and the family moves into their flat. One night a small boy who escaped comes to the door, and Batignole has to hide him. Gerard Jugnot wrote, directed and starred. There is no heroism at the centre. Batignole is not brave; he is fearful, self-serving and largely indifferent. Helping is not a decision but a situation he cannot escape, and the film builds it slowly into a moral change. The tone moves between comedy and tragedy; Jugnot works in the language of popular French comedy and does not abandon it as the material darkens. Collaboration is addressed directly: the neighbours who denounce, those who move into emptied flats, and those who later behave as though nothing happened. It reached a wide audience in France. Who it is for: viewers who like occupation stories and popular French cinema. Who it is not for: anyone wanting hard history; the film prefers an emotional resolution.