''Un village français'' (''A French Village'') is a French television drama series created by chief writer Frédéric Krivine and principal director Philippe Triboit, with the assistance of historical consultant

Jean-Pierre Azéma Jean-Pierre Azéma (born 1937) is a French historian. Azéma is a member of the scientific counsel for the Institut François Mitterrand, an organisation founded by François Mitterrand with the goal of "contributing to the propagation of knowled ...

. It is set in Villeneuve, a fictional ''commune'', in the Jura, in German-occupied France during the Second World War, and represents, according to the New York Times, "the first major French television series seriously to address collaboration during the Nazi occupation in World War II." The series was first broadcast on

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services provi ...

in June 2009, and has also been shown in Belgium, Switzerland and Canada on

TV5 Monde TV5Monde (), formerly known as TV5, is a French public television network, broadcasting several channels of French-language programming. It is an approved participant member of the European Broadcasting Union. The network is available acros ...

and on MBC in South Korea. In the USA it has been shown on th
French language entertainment network TV5MONDE
the MHz Choice streaming service (through Amazon Prime) and Hulu, or for free on some

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations.

Synopsis

In June 1940, German military forces invade the fictional village of Villeneuve, near the French-Swiss border in the department (province) of Jura, France. The village is put into disarray by the occupying German military, which quickly takes control of all aspects of Villeneuve life, including the subjugation of the local government and police. During the invasion, many residents are either killed or wounded, but the survivors attempt to rebuild from the carnage and try to make sense of the German occupation and the new order that has descended upon their village. Over the course of the series, viewers witness the evolution of main characters and a variety of minor and recurring characters, as they resist, adapt or collaborate to varying degrees with the occupying German forces with a strong

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

presence. The series also presents the perspective of an SS officer, Heinrich Müller, a German who investigates acts of resistance and helps to administer and enforce German rule in the village, as the series's main antagonist. Each season corresponds to one year of the occupation, with the exception of seasons two and three, which jointly cover 1941. Stories are set almost exclusively in and around Villeneuve at locations like the school, private residences, police headquarters, German military and SS headquarters, brothel, government offices, local businesses, and surrounding farms and countryside. Both main and supporting characters' individual loyalties, friendships, morals, and family ties are routinely put to the test as a result of greed, hunger, violence, antisemitism, power struggles, and unseen events occurring during World War II as the village's resources and manpower are increasingly diverted towards supporting the German war effort. All political dissent and resistance by the occupied villagers is brutally repressed by certain members of the Villeneuve police, the newly formed

Milice The ''Milice française'' (French Militia), generally called ''la Milice'' (literally ''the militia'') (), was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy regime (with German aid) to help fight against the Fre ...

and the Gestapo, which uses coercion, torture and murder to achieve their goal of a subdued populace they view as inferior. The Gestapo and German military leaders also engage in rounding up the village's Jewish population for deportation to foreign ghettos and concentration camps by putting pressure upon the local police and political leaders to meet strict Jewish deportation quotas. Other story lines focus upon the formation and coalescence of disparate French resistance groups in the area including the local communist party, resistance fighters,

French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (french: Forces françaises de l'Intérieur) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation ...

, police sympathetic to the cause and a ragtag group of inexperienced fighters hiding in the surrounding wooded areas, primarily disaffected youths fleeing the German policy of

Service du travail obligatoire The ' ( en, Compulsory Work Service; STO) was the forced enlistment and deportation of hundreds of thousands of French workers to Nazi Germany to work as forced labour for the German war effort during World War II. The STO was created under law ...

, a forced labour program that provides manpower for factories based in Germany. In season 6 (1944), after the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

liberate Paris, the French resistance makes contact with members of the US Army working behind enemy lines and begins to cooperate directly with the Allies to help sabotage German military operations.

Cast members

Main cast (in alphabetical order)

Recurring cast (in alphabetical order)

Guest (in alphabetical order)

Production

Jean-Philippe Amar directed 23 episodes, Philippe Triboit directed 16 episodes, Patrice Martineau directed 13 episodes, Jean-Marc Brondolo directed 12 episodes, and Olivier Guignard directed the 6 first episodes of the TV series.

References

Un Village Français: explaining a TV success story, ''The Conversation'', 20 September 2015

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Village Francais 2000s French drama television series 2010s French drama television series 2009 French television series debuts Television shows set in France Television series set in the 1940s World War II television drama series