''Fortunat'' (English: ''Fortunate'') is a 1960 Franco-Italian co-production motion picture comedy directed and written by Alex Joffé, based on a novel by Michel Breitman. The film stars

Bourvil André Robert Raimbourg (; 27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil (), and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Louis ...

and

Michèle Morgan Michèle Morgan (; née Simone Renée Roussel; 29 February 1920 – 20 December 2016) was a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades in both French cinema and Hollywood features. She is considered to have been one of the g ...

. It tells the story of a lazy man who helps a sociable lady and her children from the Nazis.

Plot

Occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, destiny brings together the poacher Fortunat, an honest guy with a weakness for drink, and Juliette, an elegant woman with two children: Pierre and Maurice. Miss Massillon, a helpful teacher, tries to help Juliette who is being hunted by the Nazis after the arrest of her husband, a leader of the Resistance. Juliette and her children must reach the French-controlled zone in the south, to take refuge in Toulouse. For that it is necessary for them to cross the Demarcation line. It is Fortunat who is charged with leading the two children and their mother to safety. Close links will link Fortunat and Juliette. A scene of film implies clearly that they have a sexual relationship at least once. After the

Liberation of France The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance. Nazi Germany inv ...

, Juliette is reunited with her husband, and Fortunat returns to his life as a single man.

Cast

*Michèle Morgan - Juliette *Bourvil - Fortunat *Gaby Morlay - Miss Massillon *

Rosy Varte Rosy Varte (22 November 1923 – 14 January 2012) was a French actress of Armenian descent. She made more than 100 film and television appearances during her career. She starred in the 1972 film ''The Bar at the Crossing'', which was enter ...

- Mrs. Falk

External links

''Fortunat''
at Films de France

from

Time Out Film Guide Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to c ...

* * 1960 films French comedy films Italian comedy films Films set in 1942 1960s French films 1960s Italian films {{1960s-France-film-stub