The time is June, 1944. In German occupied France, Resistance leader and writer Robert Antelme is arrested and subsequently deported. Marguerite Duras, a writer herself, is torn by the news of Robert, her husband, and also by her guilt over an ongoing affair with her lover, Dyonis. Desperate to find her husband, Marguerite falls in with another man, Pierre Rabier, a French agent who has infiltrated the Gestapo, and a tangled web develops between the two amidst the agonizing approach of France’s liberation.
A moving period drama adapted from Marguerite Duras’ own semi-autobiographical novel War: A Memoir, Emmanuel Finkel’s film explores the depth of grief and the ramifications of one’s decisions. Duras’ choices, specifically her relationship with Rabier, may be questionable—but her emotional journey is not. As the possibility of her husband’s return dims, she is put through the varying forms of sorrow, a reflection of the larger tragedy surrounding her story.
Director Biography
Emmanuel Finkiel is a French filmmaker born in 1961. His body of work includes short film, documentaries and television programming. As a director, he is known for Je suis (’12) and A Decent Man (’12). His film Voyages (’00) earned a César for Best First Feature.
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