''Line of Demarcation'' is a 1966

war drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

. Its title in French is ''La Ligne de démarcation''. It is based on upon the memoir ''Mémoires d'un agent secret de la France libre et La Ligne de démarcation'' by

Gilbert Renault Gilbert Renault (August 6, 1904 – July 29, 1984), known by the nom de guerre Colonel Rémy, was a notable French secret agent active in World War II, and was known under various pseudonyms such as ''Raymond'', ''Jean-Luc'', ''Morin'', ''Watteau' ...

under his

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Colonel Rémy.

Plot

A small village in the Jura is split by the river

Loue The Loue () is a river of eastern France, a left tributary of the Doubs, which it joins downstream of Dole. It is long. Its source is a karst spring in the Jura mountains near Ouhans, which at least partly receives its water from the Doubs. Thi ...

which creates the

line of demarcation The Treaty of Tordesillas, ; pt, Tratado de Tordesilhas . signed in Tordesillas, Spain on 7 June 1494, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Emp ...

between

Nazi occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

and freedom. A French officer, Pierre ( Ronet), is released by the Nazi soldiers to find his chateau converted into a German command centre. Whilst he is obliged to co-operate with the enemy, his wife Mary (

Seberg ''Seberg'' is a 2019 political thriller film directed by Benedict Andrews, from a screenplay by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse based on the life of Jean Seberg. It stars Kristen Stewart, Jack O'Connell, Margaret Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Anthony M ...

) supports the

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

and is willing to risk her life for it. The Nazis step up their activity against the resistance, insisting that any who attempt to cross the line of demarcation will be shot. When his wife is arrested, Pierre decides to switch his allegiance. The movement is hindered by an informer and another man who pretends to help the resistance fighters but leads them to the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and steals all their possessions.

Principal cast

Production

The film was shot in

Dole, Jura Dole (, sometimes pronounced ) is a commune in the Jura department, of which it is a subprefecture (''sous-préfecture''), in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, in Eastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 23,711. History Dole was t ...

, starting on January 31, 1966. The shooting lasted 7 weeks.

Availability

The film has been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

References

External links

* * {{Claude Chabrol 1966 films 1966 drama films French drama films Films about the French Resistance Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by Claude Chabrol Films set in 1941 Films shot in France French World War II films 1960s French films