Product Details

• Actors: Gérard Jugnot, Jules Sitruk, Michèle Garcia
• Directors: Gérard Jugnot
• Format: Color, Import, Widescreen
• Subtitles: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0006218HG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,522 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A movie dripping with the juice of life, September 20, 2005

By 

Roedy Green (Victoria, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monsieur Batignole (Original French Version with English Subtitles) (DVD)

The movie takes place during the German occupation of Paris. It is about an ordinary man, a butcher, who without intending to, becomes guardian of three Jewish children whom he attempts to lead to safety.

In a way, the movie reminds me of Fellini, with some of the grotesque characters and the eye for non-traditional beauty. In a way the movie reminds me of Altman with 25 things happening at once. But it is a traditional story telling film, without arty affectation. In a few scenes, it reminded me of Lasse Hallström’s My Life as a Dog with its realistic inter-child dialog.

All the characters are wonderfully flawed and memorable. It is not a particularly violent movie, but I had to stop the film every once in a while just to break the tension.

It is a period piece, but it done so naturally you never stop to think about how it was made. It just seems real. The streets are not teeming. The villains are not monsters. The heroes are not super-human. It is a completely believable story.

It is in French with subtitles.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the thousand faces of the redemption!, May 23, 2006

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monsieur Batignole (Original French Version with English Subtitles) (DVD)

Batignole is primary man. His little world is extremely narrow. His family and business absorb him totally. But we are in times of War (June 1942) and under these circumstances it's truly difficult to be neutral.

His son in law is a collaborationist; he maintains a very narrow link with the Germans and his way of living is very lucrative: he inquires and then denounce the presence of Jewish people in the zone. Batignole intends overlook this very unpleasant ebccause the happiness of his daughter is his main concern.

But, just when the things seem to have reached the plenitude of the good fortune, an unexpected guest will knock the door.

An emblematic film loaded of devotion and humanity, showing the heroism necessarily does not follow a determined direction or it' s predetermined by certain actions.

The last generation of French films is impregnated of creative breath and vigorous inspiration. And that's by itself it's an excellent notice.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monsieur Battignole, May 7, 2009

By 

Susie Drenth - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Monsieur Batignole (Original French Version with English Subtitles) (DVD)

Brilliant French wartime drama....the French are the masters of this genre and Monsieur Batignole is one of the best examples. Highly gripping, dramatic yet tender story of a mild mannered French butcher caught up in the Nazi occupation of Paris, wanting to live "under the radar" but being forced to rise to levels of bravery that he did not know he possessed when he discovers a Jewish boy hiding in his cellar. The ensuing story of Monsieur Batignole's flight to take the boy and his little cousins to safety in Switzerland is touching and beautifully developed. A wonderful, heart-warming film with outstanding performances by the lead actors.