Fortunat (1960)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Alex Joffé

Writers:

Michel Breitman (novel)
Alex Joffé (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 November 1960 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Bourvil	...	Noël Fortunat
Michèle Morgan	...	Juliette Valcourt
Teddy Bilis	...	Sam Falk
Rosy Varte	...	Rosette Falk
Patrick Millow	...	Pierrot Valcourt
Frédéric Mitterrand	...	Maurice Valcourt (as Frédéric Robert)
Albertine Sarov	...	Myriam Falk
Jean-Marie Amato	...	Monsieur Tonio, the jeweller
Denise Carvenne	...	Mme Dubroc
André Cellier	...	Un résistant
Nicole Chollet	...	L'institutrice
Pierre Doris	...	M. Dubroc
Claire Duhamel	...	La secrétaire de mairie
Maurice Garrel	...	L'inspecteur de la milice / Milice Inspector (as Maurice Garel)
Jacques Harden	...	Le résistant dans le cimetière

Also Known As:

Fortunate (International: English title)
S.S. operazione Fortunat (Italy)

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Ébreuil, Allier, France

Company:

Cinétel

Goofs:

Continuity: During the dialog between Miss Massillon and the "Resistant", about 7 minutes after the beginning of the film, the Resistant's beard has a tendency to appear and disappear between shots.

Let's stand together and hope for the best!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

During WW2, a posh bourgeois woman (Morgan)is compelled to live under the same room as a crude simple-minded yet big-hearted man.(Bourvil) Her husband was arrested by the Gestapo and she is a hunted woman .

Although not looked upon as a first-rate director,Joffé was praised for the way he used his actors.It's patently obvious in "Fortunat"!Michèle Morgan gives a subtle performance as a woman whose resilience is completely unexpected:when she enters the seedy flat,she says "We cannot stay here!It's not comfortable enough ! The children are not used to that!".Morgan manages to keep her pride and her radiance even when she carries out humble homework.In direct contrast to her,we have Fortunat:Bourvil shines in his part of an uneducated peasant,risking his life to save his French fellow men as his former school mistress (Gaby Morlay) taught him to do.

Their neighbors are a Jewish family (good support from Rosy Varte and Teddy Billis)with a little girl.In a very simple but moving way,Joffé shows the absurdity of Anti-Semitism:the two families get on very well,they drink lemonade,make music and celebrate Christmas together.The most beautiful scene is perhaps the moment when the two boys and the girl are eating bread and are pretending they're savoring chicken.

Joffé's detractors are going to say it's too good to be true.But the outside world is still here.Morgan hopes the Falk family will be safe and sound but she does not know about concentration camps.Morgan's husband returns from Germany a broken man (he does not appear in the movie),and Bourvil's schoolteacher is shot.

Like this ? Try these.. René Clément: "le jour et l'heure" 1963 Jacques Doillon: "un sac de billes" 1975 George Stevens:"the diary of Anne Frank" 1961 Claude Chabrol: "la Ligne de Démarcation" 1965