The Sorrow and the Pity (Marcel Ophuls, 1969): France, Switzerland, and West Germany

Reviewed by Byron Potau.  Viewed on DVD.

Probably best known among average movie goers as the four-hour documentary that Woody Allen drags Diane Keaton to in Annie Hall, Marcel Ophuls’s 1969 documentary, The Sorrow and the Pity, is a significant film that deserves a bit more recognition than that.

The film chronicles the occupation of France by the Germans in World War II by focusing on the effects of the small town of Clermont-Ferrand.  The first half of the film deals with France’s more shameful side of the occupation, revealing the country’s willing collaboration with the Germans and a spread of anti Semitism.  It also presents much of the politics between France and former ally England, a country still fighting the war.  The second half of the film shows a more heroic side of France with the resistance fighters, but also shows an ugly side as the French punish those suspected of denouncing resistance fighters, collaborating with the enemy, or women who dated German soldiers.

Ophuls’s film is comprised of archival footage and interviews with several of the residents of Clermont-Ferrand.  The footage of the interviews is so grainy and overexposed that it meshes very well with the archival footage, helping to keep the viewer in the time period of World War II.  The film brings to light several of the difficulties France was facing after the surrender, and succeeds to reveal that the situation and the sentiments of the country were more complex than an outsider could hope to understand.  Among the interesting insights the film gives is its exploration of  France’s relationship with England, a relationship which contained many grey areas, espeically since France’s Vichy government willfully collaborated with the Germans.

The film is a great watch for any history or World War II buff, and a great film overall.  The length of the film might scare off some viewers, but the interviews are interesting, revealing and never boring, and the archival footage is fascinating and unfamiliar.  If you are still unsure about the length, the film is in two distinct halves, so I would suggest watching them that way rather than tackling it all in one sitting.