''Thou Shalt Not Kill'' (french: Tu ne tueras point), also known as ''L'objecteur'', is a 1961 French feature film directed by

Claude Autant-Lara Claude Autant-Lara (; 5 August 1901 – 5 February 2000) was a French film director and later Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Biography Born at Luzarches in Val-d'Oise, Autant-Lara was educated in France and at London's Mill Hill Sc ...

, written by

Jean Aurenche Jean Aurenche (11 September 1904 – 29 September 1992) was a French screenwriter. During his career, he wrote 80 films for directors such as René Clément, Bertrand Tavernier, Marcel Carné, Jean Delannoy and Claude Autant-Lara. He is often ...

and

Pierre Bost Pierre Bost (5 September 1901, Lasalle, Gard – 6 December 1975, Paris) was a French screenwriter, novelist, and journalist. Primarily a novelist until the 1940s, he was known mainly as a screenwriter after 1945, often collaborating with Jean Aur ...

, and starring

Laurent Terzieff Laurent Terzieff (27 June 1935, in Toulouse – 2 July 2010, in Paris) was a French actor. Biography Terzieff was the son of French ceramist Horst Frank Horst Frank (28 May 1929 – 25 May 1999) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1955 and 1999. He was born in Lübeck, Germany and died in Heidelberg, Germany. Selected filmography * ''Der Stern von Afrika'' (19 ...

. Actress

Suzanne Flon Suzanne Flon (28 January 1918 – 15 June 2005) was a French stage, film, and television actress. She won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in the 1961 film '' Thou Shalt Not Kill''. Flon also received two César Awards and two ...

won the Best Actress award at the 1961

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

for her role in the film.

Plot

The film is set in France at the end of

World War II 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 opposing ...

. It is about a conscientious objector (Laurent Terzieff), imprisoned and on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

, because of his opposition to war. He finds himself in jail with a German priest who had killed a French Resistance fighter. This set-up allows Autant-Lara to explore ideas about morality, obedience, and religion.

Production and release

Autant-Lara had trouble obtaining funding for the film, in part because of its anti-war message at the time of France's involvement in the Algerian War. He invested his own money in the film, and received support from

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. The film was shown at the 1961 Venice Film Festival, but the French refused to show it in their pavilion so it was shown by the Yugoslavs. The film was then blocked from release in France for 2 years.

Reception

The film was badly received by the French press of its time. Bernard Dort, in one of the few positive reviews, noted that the film was more a study of its two main characters than an anti-war tirade. AllMovie gives it 3/5, criticising Autant-Lara's "cut-and-dried directorial techniques".

Awards

Suzanne Flon, playing the conscientious objector's mother, won the Volpi Cup at the 1961 Venice Film Festival for best actress. The film was nominated for Best Film at the 1963 British Academy Film Awards.

References

External links

*
Cine-ressources
1961 films Films directed by Claude Autant-Lara French war drama films 1960s French films {{1960s-France-film-stub