De Gaulle – A Story of Resistance and Friendship with Churchill

A small blend of humor contributes to the feel of an old war film from the 1960s

The film is based on a biography by English historian Julian Jackson, particularly his work A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle . This gives Baudry’s biopic a pleasant, dynamic tone with a touch of amused detachment. It is the first part of a diptych, presenting a well-disposed, naturally sympathetic view of France’s great hero during World War II. Simon Abkarian, a Franco-Armenian actor, portrays de Gaulle with martyr-like height and slight absurdity. De Gaulle appears as a tall exile in London, refusing to accept the disgrace of the Vichy government and surrender to the Nazis, symbolized by Marshal Philippe Pétain (played by Alain Libolt) and Admiral François Darlan (played by Mathieu Kassovitz). For reasons that become clear later, de Gaulle’s story becomes mysteriously linked to that of a young, enthusiastic patriot, Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle (played by Florian Lesieur), the French leader’s greatest admirer.

A small blend of humor contributes to the feel of an old war film from the 1960s, though it took until 2026 for French cinema to confront this controversial national figure. No one on the team seems bold enough to comment on the determinism of a Gallic hero named „De Gaulle.” De Gaulle’s greatest supporter—and, in a sense, his creator—after France’s fall in 1940 was Winston Churchill, portrayed with great enthusiasm and charm by Simon Russell Beale. It is a pleasure to see a commercial role that truly deserves this actor. I could not find another film where Churchill is portrayed with most of his dialogue in French; this is precisely how he speaks in most of his interactions with de Gaulle. One might wonder if Churchill’s French was truly that good.

Churchill’s attitude is exasperated, affectionate, and occasionally furious over time

Churchill’s attitude is exasperated, affectionate, and occasionally furious over time, yet he recognizes in de Gaulle a kindred soul: a mad romantic and patriot. Beale delivers his extended dialogue scenes with Abkarian—where they drink champagne with genius—with a Shakespearean nuance. I wonder if the second part will include the legendary moment when de Gaulle is asked who the three most important Europeans are, and he immediately replies: „Dante, Goethe, Chateaubriand.” Upon mentioning Shakespeare, he whispers: „European?” The film offers, with a frozen breath, de Gaulle’s arrival in Britain after France’s collapse, where Churchill shrewdly promotes him as the true guardian of the French flame, aiming to undermine the Vichy regime. He is given a staff, a residence, and the right to broadcast on the BBC in support of the French Resistance—for all of which de Gaulle responds in a hilariously ungrateful manner.

He then forms a heterogeneous group of exiles who gather around him, resembling a cabinet similar to the prisoners in John Sturges’ The Great Escape , joining a grand plan. De Gaulle receives with indifference the horror of Churchill’s ruthless bombing of the French fleet at the Algerian port of Mers-el-Kébir in 1940, an attack that killed approximately 1,300 French sailors, intended to prevent the fleet from falling into Nazi hands. The film suggests that de Gaulle, with his own ruthless realpolitik, understood the importance of supporting this action, despite its painful cost.