The Rays and Shadows

Before the war, the journalist Jean Luchaire and Otto Abetz, a young German francophile, are working for peace in Europe. Once war comes and France is occupied, each finds his place: Luchaire becomes a powerful press baron arguing for collaboration, Abetz the Reich's ambassador in Paris. At the same time Luchaire's daughter Corinne is rising fast in the film industry. Xavier Giannoli uses a real family to show how collaboration is normalised by degrees. Jean Dujardin plays Luchaire and August Diehl plays Abetz. Mounted on a budget over thirty million euros and running a hundred and ninety-five minutes, it is ambitious in scale as well. It opened in France in March 2026. Who it is for: viewers who like epics about occupied France and moral collapse. Who it is not for: anyone without patience for length, since this runs over three hours.