Lucie Aubrac

Lucie Aubrac
by Claude Berri

Category: DVD
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DVD Reviews of Lucie Aubrac

DVD Review: When the French had backbone...
Summary: 5 Stars

Ditto to everything Paul said. I would just like to add a few details in the hope of increasing people's awareness of what this French warrior goddess actually achieved. (I honoured Lucie with a significant mention in my first book.)

The film is wonderful, but in some ways it is a simplified version of the actual events - especially the ending.

Lucie Aubrac was five months pregnant when she planned and led a successful raid on the Nazi convoy that was taking her husband to his place of execution.

After the rescue, the Aubracs were hidden by loyal comrades for three months until an RAF covert operations aircraft could be sent to retrieve them.

On the night of their escape, the plane, which I believe was a Lockheed Hudson, became stuck in the mud of the landing field, with dawn and the Nazi patrols only a few hours away.

FIFTY local villagers risked their own lives to come to the aid of their beloved Resistance friends and soon the plane was pushed free.

Lucie's daughter was born only a few days after their safe arrival at a British airbase. Her courage and leadership drew praise from battle-hardened Resistance soldiers and RAF aircrews of the elite Moon Squadron.

This film is about true French spirit. About a people who would never surrender, never stop fighting, who helped countless Allied airmen escape back to England, and who eventually liberated Paris even without Allied help. That my friends, is what the real French are like.

A magnificent film.

Description of Lucie Aubrac

Lucie Aubrac is part thriller and part romance, but both halves are handled with a subdued discretion that doesn't prevent the movie from being deeply engaging. Meticulous and skillful, director Claude Berri paces his story carefully, paying attention to the details of life in occupied France. The fully developed atmosphere, never overstated, gives just the right frame to Lucie and Raymond's passionate marriage. Auteuil is solid, but it's Bouquet's film; her performance is as low-key as the movie, yet completely compelling and deeply affecting. Based on a true story. --Bret Fetzer