Review of Le père tranquille

In France during the Second World War, under the Nazi occupation, Édouard Martin, who has all the appearance of a "quiet father", is an important leader of the resistance without his family's knowledge. He is assisted by Simon and Pelletier who is secretly in love with his daughter Monique. She discovers her father's activities and sees the birth of her love for Pelletier. While an action on the neighboring factory is being prepared, the young Pierre Martin flees the house to join the maquis. To keep his family and neighbors away from the bombardment of the factory, Édouard Martin organizes the engagement of Pelletier and his daughter in town, which alerts the German police who arrest him. Wounded but saved by the guerrillas, the quiet father is proudly recognized by his son.

This story is taken from real events, which took place in the town of Woippy in Moselle, where the quiet father, Jean Ernest Kempnich, a horticulturist by profession, resisted the Nazis. The film is supposed to take place in Confolens and Angoulême, but in reality the exteriors were shot in Olonne-sur-Mer (where the "quiet father's house" still exists, as we see it in the film ) and Les Sables d'Olonne in the spring of 1946, the interiors being produced at the Radio-Cinéma Des Buttes Chaumont studio in Paris.

Noël Noël is equal to himself, a very great actor! The "race" of actors that we no longer do... I believe that the rating given by the members is quite severe for this excellent film and its incomparable actors, especially for Noël Noël who co-directs in addition to playing the main role.

But of course that only engages me.