User reviews

Based on Line Renaud's mother's memories who survived WW2,the title is a nod to "le père tranquille" starring Noel -Noel who depicted the life of an apparently homebody , growing orchids,but actually part of the French resistance.

The heroine is closer to Simone Signoret 's character in "le jour et l'heure" by René Clément (1962) : the woman who hides her head in the sand in the Occupation days till she had to help an English paratrooper ;the same happens to Madame Louise , but most of the action takes place in an enclosed place,her restaurant where time seems to have stood still.

Madame Louise trusts the general Pétain ; some kind of Kommandantur's protégée ,her restaurant is provided with food,at a time the Parisians had to wait in the queues to get some rutabagas .

Out of the blue, she's confronted with a situation which will make all the difference :she hides an injured British paratrooper in her cellar :thus,she has entered the resistance by chance, without realizing it ;from this moment on, she goes over to the other side .

The film is a tribute to little resistant fighters ,who were not part of the networks ,but who risked their life too; the ending is depressing ,but a few people were unfairly treated at the liberation.

Line Renaud shines as Madame Louise ,a woman obvertaken by the events ; the supporting cast is uneven :Pierre Mondy is true to form but both the German officer (who has pity on the heroine ,although he knows her compatriots won't never forgive her treason) and the wounded soldier (who hardly utters a word in his first language) are not entirely credible.

While apparently based on true events, this movie has all the qualities of a somewhat modern French fable (if something like that could exist...). The main character is an old woman, patron of a typical bistrot with an unusual past. Her aged boyfriend is an equally quirky character and they both have a golden heart: they're the reluctant heroes who try to save an English soldier from the Nazis. They do so in the clumsiest way possible, aided by the clumsiest resistance cell ever existed. Coincidentally, the usual German officer with behavioural issues also takes a room in her bistrot. And the list of coincidences goes on... The acting is good for the most part, but the script hammers too much on the tragic side of the story with no real balance.