Summary
When her husband, a member of the French Resistance, is captured by the German police,
a middle-class woman, Juliet, is forced to flee from the Nazi occupied part of France
with her two young sons. She is escorted by a poacher, Noël Fortunat, who poses
as her husband. When they arrive safely in Toulouse, Noël, Juliet and
her children set up home together, and make friends with a Jewish family living next door.
Despite their different social positions, Juliet and Noël form a close bond of friendship
which is strengthened by their shared experiences of poverty and intimidation by the German
police. But how long will their brittle happiness last?
Review
Fortunat is an engaging tragicomic melodrama which presents a realistic and moving
picture of life for ordinary folk living in France during the Occupation in WWII. The film
brings together two of France’s great acting legends, Michèle Morgan and Bourvil,
who, despite their very differing acting styles and personalities, have a
startling on-screen chemistry. They have previously worked together
on André Cayatte’s Le
Miroir à deux faces (1958), another classic of French cinema.
It is under the direction of Morgan’s real-life partner, Gérard Oury, that
Bourvil would have his greatest screen successes, Le Corniaud (1965) and
La Grande vadrouille (1966).
With its moody cinematography, Fortunat vividly evokes the era in which it is set,
a period of uncertainty and fear for most French people. It also combines comedy and
drama to great effect, with comic moments often immediately
followed by a sudden tragic development. The devastatingly poignant
ending – although almost entirely predictable – is particularly moving,
highlighting as it does the class divisions that existed at the time, social
barriers that could only be breached by something as cataclysmic as a war.
© James Travers 2001
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© James Travers 2001
Write a review for this film...
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Useful links
- Best French films of 2011
- Best French films of the 2000s
- Best of the French New Wave
- Best of French film comedy
- The best 100 French films
- The most successful French films
- Great French filmmakers
Related links
- Other French films of the 1960s
- The best French films of the 1960s
- Other French comedy-dramas
- The best French comedy-dramas
- Biography and films of Alex Joffé
To buy this film
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Credits
- Director: Alex Joffé
- Script: Michel Breitman, Alex Joffé
- Photo: Pierre Petit
- Music: Denis Kieffer
- Cast: Bourvil (Noël Fortunat), Michèle Morgan (Juliette Valcourt), Teddy Bilis (Sam Falk), Rosy Varte (Rosette Falk), Patrick Millow (Pierrot Valcourt), Frédéric Mitterrand (Maurice Valcourt), Albertine Sarov (Myriam Falk), Jean-Marie Amato (Monsieur Tonio), Denise Carvenne (Mme Dubroc), Gaby Morlay (Emilienne Massillon)
- Country: France
- Language: French
- Runtime: 121 min; B&W
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If you like this film you may also like the following:- L’Auberge rouge (1951)
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- Le Fantôme de la liberté (1974)
- La Grande vadrouille (1966)
- L’Homme qui aimait les femmes (1977)
- Jeux interdits (1952)
- Monsieur Ripois (1954)
- Le Mouton enragé (1974)
- La Nuit américaine (1973)
- Préparez vos mouchoirs (1978)
- Le Roi de coeur (1966)
- Série noire (1979)
- La Vache et le prisonnier (1959)
- Week-end à Zuydcoote (1964)
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Comedy / Drama / War






