{"id":739800,"date":"2026-08-16T12:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/739800\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T12:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:32:10","slug":"the-spirit-of-resistance-de-gaulle-biopic-turns-into-surprise-hit-for-frances-younger-viewers-charles-de-gaulle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/739800\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The spirit of resistance\u2019: De Gaulle biopic turns into surprise hit for France\u2019s younger viewers | Charles de Gaulle"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 18 June 1940, Charles de Gaulle<\/a>, then a little-known army officer, sat in a BBC studio in London and made his famous rallying call for the French to resist the Nazi occupation and its puppet Vichy government.<\/p>\n

In the eyes of the British prime minister Winston Churchill, De Gaulle was an arrogant, stubborn and defiant thorn in his and the allies\u2019 side, but the Frenchman never stopped believing in the greatness of France<\/a> and the need for resistance.<\/p>\n

Now a new two-part biopic, based on a biography of De Gaulle by a British author, has proved to be a surprise summer hit in French cinemas<\/a> and given the country\u2019s young a new old hero.<\/p>\n

La Bataille de Gaulle, to be released in UK cinemas on 28 August and 19 September, has drawn an audience of 5 million people since its release in June, rivalling Hollywood blockbusters Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey. And not just because cinemas have been air-conditioned refuges from the successive heatwaves.<\/p>\n

The French historian Alya Aglan, a professor at the Panth\u00e9on-Sorbonne university in Paris, and co-author of the bestselling book De Gaulle, France and the World, said: \u201cIn the history of France, we have always had a \u2018providential man\u2019, someone who arrived at the right time and turns a situation of weakness into a position of strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enthusiasm for the film among young people is because they are discovering parts of a story they did not know: a man who knew failures, hesitation, hard knocks and who embodied the spirit of resistance because he remained himself against everything even at the cost of being occasionally ridiculous.<\/p>\n

A still from La Bataille de Gaulle\u2019s first part \u2013 L\u2019age de Fer. Photograph: TCD\/Prod.DB\/Alamy<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is emotion, there is information they didn\u2019t know and it resonates with today\u2019s young particularly in the run-up to a presidential election in which we will find ourselves in a very divisive situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The films, both nearly three hours long and costing up to \u00a380m to make, are adapted from the 2018 De Gaulle biography A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle by Julian Jackson, a professor of history at Queen Mary University of London.<\/p>\n

The first installment, L\u2019\u00c2ge de fer (Iron Age), follows De Gaulle\u2019s journey to London in June 1940 and the founding of the Free French forces to combat the Nazis, highlighting the Battle of Bir Hakeim in which 3,700 Free French soldiers held out in the Libyan desert against 37,000 Nazi troops led by Erwin Rommel for 16 days, allowing Britain\u2019s Eighth Army to retreat. The second, J\u2019\u00e9cris ton nom (I Write Your Name) covers the rest of the war up to the liberation of France in 1944.<\/p>\n

Directed by Antonin Baudry, a French diplomat and former ministerial adviser, the cast includes Simon Abkarian, who played a James Bond villain, Alex Dimitrios, in Casino Royale, as General de Gaulle and the award winning British Shakespearean actor Simon Russell Beale as Winston Churchill.<\/p>\n

The second film, J\u2019\u00e9cris ton nom, covers De Gaulle\u2019s story up to the liberation of France. Photograph: TCD\/Prod.DB\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Baudry told French radio that he wanted the films to \u201cspeak to young people \u2026 and the themes of war, resistance and engagement\u201d.<\/p>\n

After the first release, the biopic appeared to be a flop; but to appeal to a younger audience, the film company Path\u00e9 organised watch parties hosted by the YouTube and Instagram influencer Inoxtag<\/a> for young guests to meet Baudry. Local councils also offered free tickets for students and the word spread.<\/p>\n

Outside one central Paris cinema last week, business student Alex and friends said they had enjoyed the film. \u201cWe heard about it on social media and decided to see what it was all about,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re taught about the Free French and De Gaulle in school, but there were a lot of things I didn\u2019t know. It was interesting to see how Paris students heeded De Gaulle\u2019s call to resist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon Abkarian as Charles de Gaulle in L\u2019Age de fer. Photograph: TCD\/Prod.DB\/Alamy<\/p>\n

The historian Henry Rousso, a second world war specialist, said: \u201cThere are very few films in French cinema that can be called an historical \u2018epic\u2019 and this is one of them. The director has succeeded perhaps because it is one of French history\u2019s greatest epics.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDe Gaulle was an exceptional character in his lifetime and he remains one for the French today when there is no equivalent political figure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone is as enthusiastic. Arnaud Teyssier, a historian and De Gaulle biographer, dismissed the biopic as a \u201ccomic strip\u201d that did not do its subject justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe film is not without great appeal: it had a big budget, good cast and is based on a rightly respected biography. But the disappointment is equally great,\u201d he wrote in Le Point magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Simon Russell Beale plays the British prime minister Winston Churchill (left). Photograph: TCD\/Prod.DB\/Alamy<\/p>\n

\u201cDe Gaulle \u2026 with his elusive demeanour, is far more complex to portray than Churchill, for whom one need only cast a portly actor who cracks one good joke after another while always puffing on a cigar,\u201d Teyssier wrote.<\/p>\n

Nathalie Cieutat, the deputy director general of distribution at Path\u00e9 Films, said the company\u2019s research had showed \u201cit is the theme of resistance that has made the film particularly popular to the young\u201d.<\/p>\n

As France approaches what promises to be a bitter presidential election next year<\/a>, which current polls suggest could result in a battle between the far-right National Rally and far-left France Unbowed, Aglan said the character of De Gaulle had a particularly modern resonance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen French people are divided and faced with the extreme right and extreme left and wondering who to vote for when they don\u2019t want either, they would like to have the choice of a providential man or woman who can save us from such terrible choices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDe Gaulle gives hope because he resisted and right now everyone is thinking about how to resist.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was amended on 16 August 2026. Owing to a translation error, an earlier version said that Arnaud Teyssier had said there was \u201cgood distribution\u201d \u2013 that should have said a good cast. Also, a reference to Charles de Gaulle being a junior army officer in June 1940 has been removed; he was a brigadier general.<\/p>\n