''Weekend at Dunkirk'' (french: Week-end à Zuydcoote) is a

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

war drama film directed by

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno Internationa ...

and starring

Jean-Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...

. It is based on the 1949

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

winning novel ''

Week-end at Zuydcoote ''Week-end at Zuydcoote'' (; published as ''Weekend at Dunkirk'' in the United States) is a 1949 novel by French author Robert Merle, published in the Collection Blanche by Éditions Gallimard. It won the 1949 Prix Goncourt, France's most prestig ...

'' (French: ''Week-end à Zuydcoote'') by Robert Merle.

Plot

Set during the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk (french: Bataille de Dunkerque, link=no) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on t ...

, the film follows Julien Maillat, a French Army sergeant who tries to join the British Army on the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

's boat flotilla to England. No matter how hard he tries to make it, he and his French squad-mates and colleagues are hard-pressed to get away as the fight is getting harder and the Germans closer and closer.

Selected cast

Staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, superv ...

French Army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

Julien Maillat *

Catherine Spaak Catherine Spaak (3 April 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a French-born Italian actress and singer who acted in mostly in Italian films with some Hollywood and international productions. She is best known for her roles in the films '' Il Sorpasso'' ( ...

as Jeanne *

Jean-Pierre Marielle Jean-Pierre Marielle (12 April 1932 – 24 April 2019) was a French actor. He appeared in more than a hundred films in which he played very diverse roles, from a banal citizen ('' Les Galettes de Pont-Aven''), to a World War II hero ('' Les Mill ...

as a French military chaplain friend of Maillat *

François Périer François Périer (born François Pillu; 10 November 1919 – 29 June 2002), was a French actor renowned for his expressiveness and diversity of roles. He made over 110 film and TV appearances between 1938 and 1996, with notable excursion into ...

as Alexandre *

Pierre Mondy Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

as Dhéry *

Pierre Vernier Pierre Vernier (19 August 1580 at Ornans, Franche-Comté (at that time ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs, now part of France) – 14 September 1637, same location) was a French mathematician and instrument-inventor. He was the inventor and epony ...

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker ( British English) or mortician ( American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead ...

Paul Préboist Paul Préboist (21 February 1927 – 4 March 1997) was a French actor. He appeared in more than hundred films, mostly in supporting roles, and is best known as a comic actor. Filmography Theater References External links *Paul Préboista ...

as a soldier * Ronald Howard as captain Robinson * Eric Sinclair : le capitaine Clark * Donald O'Brien as the English sergeant controlling the lines on the beach *

Kenneth Haigh Kenneth William Michael Haigh (25 March 1931 – 4 February 2018) was an English actor. He first came to public recognition for playing the role of Jimmy Porter in the play ''Look Back in Anger'' in 1956 opposite Mary Ure in London's West End ...

: John Atkins * Marie Dubois : Hélène, the French wife of Atkins * Nigel Stock as the English sergeant carrying rocking horse and burned during a German attack *

Christian Barbier Christian Barbier (28 June 1924 – 3 November 2009) was a French film and television actor. Barbier was born at Saint-Ouen, Seine (currently Seine-Saint-Denis), France. During his career (1964 to 1997), he specialized in drama rather ...

: Paul

Reception

The film was the ninth most popular movie at the French box office in 1964. According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $1,700,000 in rentals to break even and made $1,755,000, meaning it made a profit.

References

External links

*
''Weekend at Dunkirk''
at Le Film Guide * 1964 films 1960s French-language films 1960s war drama films Films directed by Henri Verneuil Films set in 1940 Films set in Dunkirk Dunkirk evacuation films Films set on beaches French war drama films French World War II films Western Front of World War II films Films based on French novels 1964 drama films 1960s French films Italian war drama films Italian World War II films {{war-drama-film-stub