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Monsieur Batignole

2002 · 100 min

A gentle, human story set against a grim backdrop, balancing quiet suspense with warmth and moral awakening.

Overview
In 1942, in an occupied Paris, the apolitical grocer Edmond Batignole lives with his wife and daughter in a small apartment in the building of his grocery. When his future son-in-law and collaborator of the German Pierre-Jean Lamour calls the Nazis to arrest the Jewish Bernstein family, they move to the confiscated apartment. Some days later, the young Simon Bernstein escapes from the Germans and comes to his former home. When Batignole finds him, he feels sorry for the boy and lodges him, hiding Simon from Pierre-Jean and also from his wife. Later, two cousins of Simon meet him in the cellar of the grocery. When Pierre-Jean finds the children, Batignole decides to travel with the children to Switzerland.
In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • warmstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • war
  • family
  • survival
  • morality
  • redemption
Places
  • big city
  • countryside
Era
period
Audience
teen
Form
  • true story
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror1
Humour4
Realism8
Romance1
Tension6
Darkness6
Complexity5
Emotional weight7

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
comedy, drama
Directed by
Gérard Jugnot
Written by
Gérard Jugnot, Philippe Lopes-Curval
Starring
Gérard Jugnot, Jules Sitruk, Michèle Garcia, Jean-Paul Rouve, Alexia Portal, Violette Blanckaert, Daphné Baiwir, Götz Burger
Music
Khalil Chahine
Cinematography
Gérard Simon
Runtime
100 min
Country
France
Languages
French

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