pt9 – POSTSCRIPT

The fact that on 17 February 2009 the French Supreme Court ruled that the French state was responsible for the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews during World War 2 [32] indicates how France is still facing up to what happened on its soil six-plus decades ago. Cinema in the immediate post-war years helped create the desired myth of universal resistance, and cinema since the late 1960s has been instrumental in the process of demythologising what Bazin described as ‘the legend’ of Resistance. One shouldn’t, though, regard the films discussed in this chapter in isolation: they reflect the wider social, political and historical contexts and currents in which they were made. It’s to the immense credit of the likes of Melville, Ophüls, Malle and Audiard that there is now a body of outstanding films, which through their individual stories address the traumatic collective experience of the occupation.

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