Line of Demarcation

"La ligne de demarcation" is arguably the most successful Chabrol movie of his transitional period -roughly from "l'oeil du malin" (1963) to "la route de Corinthe (1967).

Although there are many characters ,this is a well-constructed script ,adapted from the Colonel Remy's book.The film is dedicated to French men and women who became smugglers and helped soldiers and Jews to cross the demarcation line which divided France into two parts:occupied and unoccupied zone during WW2.

Among many characters the couple Maurice Ronet/Jean Seberg stands out:he is a defeated officer,his war is over ,and he cannot get over the 1940 debacle.On the contrary her war has only begun .she's involved in resistance and he thinks at the beginning of the movie that finally what happened was fair cause the Germans are the strongest.Seberg's beauty illuminates the movie:her face when she hears the coded message "It's a long way to Gibraltar" is one of the rare moments of happiness in a somber movie.French are not all depicted as heroes.Some are hateful cowards ,who pretend they help the Jews and gives them away to the gestapo.

In its way,"la ligne de démarcation" foreshadows several aspects of Chabrol future heyday.Two of his favorite actors ,Stephane Audran and Jean Yanne are already here ("le boucher").The entomological depiction of the villages like in the aforementioned movie is here too.And in some scenes (the attic,the burial, the forest where the patrol is on the prowl) Chabrol displays his skills of master of suspense .Good cast.

In a French village in the winter of 1941, the river forms the line of demarcation between the German-occupied zone and the Vichy zone. Over the bridge comes a released prisoner of war, Count de Damville, who is physically wounded and mentally defeated. His château has become the headquarters of Major von Pritsch and he accepts German rule. His English wife the Countess (Jean Seberg. looking more attractive than in any other film of hers I can think of) has meanwhile joined the Resistance and is helping downed Allied airmen escape over the river.

We meet many other inhabitants of the village, mostly patriotic, altruistic and brave but some selfish, cowardly and traitorous. We meet various people they are smuggling over the river, including an unfortunate Jewish family. We meet Resistance fighters, ready to take on the Germans with guns and grenades. And we meet many of the Germans, with von Pritsch and his soldiers doing their job relatively honestly while the Gestapo go about their sordid business with characteristic ruthlessness.

Chabrol's black and white camera repeatedly scans the deserted car-free streets and shuttered houses of this bleak wartime winter. Human warmth, where people show love and support for each other, relieves the gloom but human treachery and brutality intensifies it. No laughs and little joy in the film, but that was true of much of Europe at that unhappy time.

Overall well worth seeing for the mounting tension, the wide range of vivid characters, the depiction of a small community under huge stress and the ultimate, admittedly muted, optimism that the suffering and sacrifices of the villagers will prove worthwhile.

This movie, about a little town in the Jura that is cut in half by a river that forms the border between German-occupied France and the free zone, is a good drama movie!

I didn't pay full attention since my fiancé and I got surprised with a 3-month-old kitten (amazing!), but I caught most of it. The movie is a bit slow and could've been trimmed down, but it feels surprisingly modern for the '60s with its clever cinematography. The story and several performances also stand out. Overall, I had a good time!

Surprisingly modern for the '60s, with good visuals and solid performances.

In 1940, in the World War II, a river splits a French village and is the demarcation line between occupied France and free zone. The Nazis shoot anyone that tries to cross the line. When the crippled Count of Damville, Captain Pierre (Maurice Ronet), returns home, he learns that his mansion was converted into a German Base and his wife, Countess Mary (Jean Seberg), is living in the hunting lodge. The British Mary supports the French Resistance while Pierre is conformed that France lost the war. When the British and an American parachuters land in the woods, Mary helps them to escape to Gibraltar. In the town, the poacher Chéti (Roger Dumas) betrays a Jewish family that hired him to cross the river by a fortune to steal their suitcase with jewels, but the resistance member Urbain (Mario David) makes justice killing him. Meanwhile, two Gestapo agents arrive in town and demand to intensify the search of the parachuters. When they are discovered by the Garman troops, one of them is wounded with three bullets and captured. Doctor Jacques Lafaye (Daniel Gélin), who is member of the Resistance, treats the man and plots a scheme for him to escape from the hospital. But the Gestapo agents are pressing him to know his whereabouts, saying that they will torture his wife (Stephane Audran), and the doctor commits suicide. They also arrest Countess Mary that is sent to a British prisoner camp. Meanwhile the French collaborator Loiseau (René Havard), who works as interpreter to Major von Pritsch (Reinhard Kolldehoff), is assigned to find the whereabouts of the allied spy. But the Resistance is plotting a daring scheme to make him cross the border with the priest and Urbain.

"La ligne de demarcation", a.k.a. "Line of Demarcation" (1966), is a magnificent war movie by Claude Chabrol. This film is very rare to be found, but worthwhile the sacrifice to see it. The wonderful cast gives the sensation of a documentary since the cinematography is black and white. The plot shows collaborators, crooks, traitors of France, but also heroic people that risk their lives to get freedom to their nation from the invaders. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Fronteira" ("The Border")

As is well documented Claude Chabrol made some pretty awful films in the 1960's before hitting the jackpot with 'Les Biches'. The film under review however is decidedly one of the better ones from that 'fallow' period. Based upon the memoirs of Colonel Remy, one of the many pseudonyms of famed resistance operator Gilbert Regnault and filmed in black and white by Jean Rabier, it deals with life in a French village under the Nazis. The capitulation of France in 1940 and the 'behaviour' of its citizens under the occupation has always been highly emotive and opinions are sharply divided. People are people of course and were our country to have been occupied I have no doubt that some would have resisted and some collaborated while most would have simply looked on from the sidelines.

This is a gripping, visceral piece with excellent work from Maurice Ronet, Jean Seberg, Daniel Gélin and Stéphane Audran. Miss Seberg is especially touching in her role and the final sequence involving Ronet packs a punch. There is also a strong performance from Noel Roquevert as the innkeeper and a chilling turn by Jean-Louis Maury as a Gestapo agent.

Marcel Ophuls' damning documentary about life in occupied France, 'The Sorrow and the Pity', came out three years later which compelled director Jean-Pierre Melville to attempt to redress the balance by making the brilliant 'Army in the Shadows'. Although Chabrol's film cannot begin to match the power of Melville's masterpiece, there are scenes and characters that will stay with you. Chabrol came full circle in 1993 with the excellent 'L'Oeil de Vichy'.