''Captain Conan'' (original title: ''Capitaine Conan'') is a 1996 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Bertrand Tavernier Bertrand Tavernier (; 25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. Life and career Tavernier was born in Lyon, France, the son of Geneviève (née Dumond) and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, ...

. It is based on the 1934

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt ( , "The Goncourt Prize") is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but resul ...

-winning novel '' Captain Conan'' (Fr. ''Capitaine Conan'') by Roger Vercel.

Plot

In the French infantry on the Macedonian front during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Conan, an officer of the elite Chasseurs Alpins, is the charismatic leader of a special squad, many from military prisons, who raid enemy lines at night taking no prisoners. Despising career soldiers, his only friend is the young academic, Norbert. When the Armistice with Bulgaria is signed in September 1918, his unit is sent to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, capital of France's ally

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, as part of the

Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German ...

. Neither fighting nor demobilised, idleness and low morale leads to criminality and indiscipline and courts-martials begin. After being appointed a defence attorney, despite his protests and having no legal expertise, and performing well, Norbert is coerced into filling to place of the departing prosecutor to protect Conan, who is facing multiple charges, from the danger of unjust and severe punishment. In an armed robbery of a crowded nightclub, some of Conan's men, disguised, seize the takings, in the process badly injuring a female singer and fatally wounding the female cashier. With the help of the Romanian police and a French prostitute, Norbert finds and prosecutes the culprits but ensures they receive light sentences. A widow arrives from France looking for her son, whom she finds awaiting trial for desertion. After listening to her story, Norbert thinks that the boy may be blameless and that his officer is seeking to have him shot. Conan, who hates the officer, agrees and takes Norbert to the old front line where the boy was lost in action. Both become convinced of his innocence but he is convicted nonetheless. Despite the soldiers wishing to return home, the French move up to the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

as part of the

and come under attack from the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. During the action, Conan empties the stockade of mutineers and drives off the attackers. In a sombre epilogue, years later back in France, Norbert visits Conan to find him no longer the dashing hero but the terminally ill owner of a small

haberdasher __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing st ...

s, his profession before the war, disappointed with his neighbours and wife.

Cast

* Philippe Torreton: Conan * Samuel Le Bihan: Norbert * Bernard Le Coq: Lieutenant de Scève * Catherine Rich : Madeleine Erlane * François Berléand: Commandant Bouvier * Claude Rich: General Pitard de Lauzier * Cécile Vassort: Georgette *

André Falcon André Falcon (28 November 1924 – 22 July 2009) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1954 to 2008. Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon, Andre 1924 births 2009 deaths ...

: Colonel Voirin * Claude Brosset: Father Dubreuil * Crina Muresan: Ilyana * Cécile Vassort: Georgette * François Levantal: Forgeol * Pierre Val: Jean Erlane * Roger Knobelspiess: Major Cuypene * Frédéric Pierrot: Conductor * Jean-Claude Calon: officier Loisy * Laurent Schilling: Beuillard * Jean-Yves Roan: Rouzic * Philippe Héliès: Grenais * Tonio Descanvelle: Caboulet * Eric Savin: Gunsmith * Olivier Loustau: Mahut * Jean-Marie Juan: Lethore * Laurent Bateau: Perrin, soldier * Eric Dufay: Lieutenant Fideli * Philippe Frécon: Ménard, the cook * Patrick Delage: Messinge, the waiter * Patrick Brossard: Riquiou * Yvon Crenn: Floch * Christophe Odent: Cabanel * Franck Jazédé: Havrecourt * Dominique Compagnon: Morel * Frédéric Diefenthal: sergeant gare Bucarest * Luminiţa Anghel: singer in a bar * Radu Duda: Insp. Stefanesco

Reception

The film has two out of three fresh reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, even though there are more reviews listed. Janet Maslin, of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', said that Mr. Torreton powerfully embodies the film's central questions of what a fighter becomes without combat and where the values inherent in savage battle may lead. Ken Fox, of

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

, said beautiful as it is brutal and that it is one of the best war films of recent years. Alex Albanese, of

Box Office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicket. ...

, said that the film is finely wrought—as hard, precise and heartbreaking as its title character.

Awards and nominations

Bertrand Tavernier won the César Award for Best Director and Phillippe Torreton won the César Award for Best Actor. The film was also nominated for six other

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

including Best Film, Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation and Most Promising Actor. The film was nominated for Film Presented at the

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado, during Labor Day, Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 51st Telluride Film Festival, 51st edition took place on August 30–September ...

DVD release

The DVD is in French with English

subtitles Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

, and has a 2.0-channel PCM audio mix. The only special feature on the DVD is ''Un Film Sur Bertrand Tavernier'', a fifty-four-minute documentary about the making of the film. The release date of the DVD was December 19, 2000.

References

External links

* * {{Bertrand Tavernier 1996 films Films directed by Bertrand Tavernier French war films 1990s French-language films Romanian-language films World War I films set on the Eastern Front Russian Civil War films Films set in 1918 Films featuring a Best Actor César Award–winning performance Films whose director won the Best Director César Award 1990s war films 1990s English-language films 1990s French films BAC Films films French-language war films Films based on works by Roger Vercel English-language war films