The Return of Martin Guerre

Last updated • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
The Return of Martin Guerre
Le retour de Martin Guerre.jpg
Directed by Daniel Vigne  [ fr ]
Written byDaniel Vigne
Jean-Claude Carrière
Natalie Zemon Davis
Produced byDaniel Vigne
Starring Gérard Depardieu
Nathalie Baye
CinematographyAndre Neau
Edited byDenise de Casabianca
Music by Michel Portal
Distributed by European International
Release date
  • 14 May 1982 (1982-05-14)
Running time
122 min
Country France
LanguageFrench

The Return of Martin Guerre (French : Le Retour de Martin Guerre) is a 1982 French historical drama film directed by Daniel Vigne  [ fr ], and starring Gérard Depardieu. It was based on a case of imposture in 16th century France, involving Martin Guerre.

Contents

Synopsis

The film relates the historical case of Martin Guerre, who leaves his young wife in a small French village to go fight in a war, and to travel. Eight or nine years later, Martin (played by Depardieu) returns to resume his life. The man initially is acknowledged and welcomed by the wife, family, and friends because he knows the intimate details of his former life.

As time passes, however, vagabonds identify Martin as Arnaud of the neighbouring village of Tilh, [1] but the villagers dismiss these claims as lies. But when Martin makes a demand for money he's owed by his uncle, the uncle is outraged and attacks Martin. This leads to a trial on his identity, with his life at stake, since if he is not Martin he and Martin's wife Bertrande are adulterers and their child a bastard. This trial constitutes most of the film.

Martin argues well, and the villagers are divided on whether the man is in fact Martin, Bertrande siding with him. After several elevations of the proceedings up to a court in the Parlement, the judge, Jean de Coras, prepares to acquit Martin primarily on the strength of the testimony of Bertrande.

At the last minute, another witness appears in court, bearing an even stronger resemblance to the young Martin and casting everything into doubt once more. The impostor confesses that he was a soldier with the real Martin, who said he was never going back to his village, upon which the impostor decided to take his place. Even Bertrande changes her mind and says the new witness is Martin. Arnaud is sentenced to death.

Some time later, De Coras visits the village to tell Bertrande that she has been acquitted and is innocent of conspiracy with Arnaud. But he has deduced that she recognized the impostor from the very beginning and asks her why she claimed he was Martin. She says that he was a better husband and man, and they had a good life together. De Coras asks her then why she changed her mind at the last minute. She says she saw in Arnaud's eyes that the case had become hopeless and that he wanted her to feign ignorance so as to live for herself and her children.

Arnaud is led to the gallows, repenting all the while. A voiceover closes the historical framework by mentioning that de Coras was executed some years later for his Protestant beliefs.

Reception

The Return of Martin Guerre was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film by the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. [2] Anne-Marie Marchand was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1984 for her work in this film. [3]

Book

In 1983, a book of the same name was published by Natalie Zemon Davis, an American historian of early modern France and professor at Princeton University. She had served as a consultant and helped write the screenplay for the film.

Remakes and musical

Sommersby is a 1993 Hollywood remake of the film in English, transposed to the American Civil War and starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.

A West End (London) musical produced by Cameron Mackintosh, Martin Guerre , was loosely based on the film with additional material from historical accounts. Again, the historical setting is transposed, in this case to the period of religious turmoil between the Huguenots and the Catholics in sixteenth-century France.

The first feature film from East Timor, A Guerra da Beatriz (Beatriz's War) was released in 2013. It is a re-telling of the story of Martin Guerre, but set in the 1980s, during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. It stars Irim Tolentino, who co-wrote the script with the director, Bety Reis. [4]

Cast and roles

Awards

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gérard Depardieu</span> French actor (born 1948)

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor, known to be one of the most prolific in film history. He has completed over 250 films since 1967, almost exclusively as a lead. Depardieu has worked with over 150 film directors whose most notable collaborations include Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott, and Bernardo Bertolucci. He is the second highest-grossing actor in the history of French cinema behind Louis de Funès. As of January 2022, his body of work also includes countless television productions, 18 stage plays, 16 records and 9 books. He is known for having portrayed numerous leading historical and fictitious figures of the Western world including Georges Danton, Joseph Stalin, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Auguste Rodin, Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean Valjean, Edmond Dantès, Christopher Columbus, Obélix, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabelle Adjani</span> French actress and singer (born 1955)

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Guerre</span> French victim of imposture (16th century)

Martin Guerre, a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the centre of a famous case of imposture. Several years after Martin Guerre had left his wife, child and village, a man claiming to be him appeared. He lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">César Award for Best Supporting Actress</span>

The César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the César Awards, presented annually by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma to recognize the outstanding performance in a supporting role of an actress who has worked within the French film industry during the year preceding the ceremony. Nominees and winner are selected via a run-off voting by all the members of the Académie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude Sautet</span> French film director and screenwriter

Claude Sautet was a French film director and screenwriter.

<i>My Father the Hero</i> (1991 film) 1991 French film

My Father the Hero is a 1991 French film directed by Gérard Lauzier and starring Gérard Depardieu. An English language remake of the movie was made in 1994 with Gérard Depardieu reprising his role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Zemon Davis</span> Canadian and American historian (1928–2023)

Natalie Zemon Davis, was an American-Canadian historian of the early modern period. She was the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at Princeton University. Her work originally focused on France, but it later broadened to include other parts of Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. For example, her book, Trickster Travels (2006), views Italy, Spain, Morocco and other parts of North Africa and West Africa through the lens of Leo Africanus's pioneering geography. Davis' books have all been translated into other languages: twenty-two for The Return of Martin Guerre. She was the second female president of the American Historical Association.

<i>Cyrano de Bergerac</i> (1990 film) 1990 film by Jean-Paul Rappeneau

Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1990 French period comedy-drama film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau and based on the 1897 play of the same name by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière and Rappeneau. It stars Gérard Depardieu, Anne Brochet and Vincent Perez. The film was a co-production between companies in France and Hungary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Richard</span> French actor (born 1934)

Pierre Richard is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, best known for the roles of a clumsy daydreamer in comedy films. Richard is considered by some, such as Louis de Funès and Gérard Depardieu, to be one of the greatest French comedians of the last 50 years. He is also a film director and occasional singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guillaume Depardieu</span> French actor (1971–2008)

Guillaume Jean Maxime Antoine Depardieu was a French actor, winner of a César Award, and the second oldest child of Gérard Depardieu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathalie Baye</span> French actress (born 1948)

Nathalie Marie Andrée Baye is a French film, television, and stage actress. She began her career in 1970 and has appeared in more than 80 films. A ten-time César Award nominee, her four wins were for Every Man for Himself (1980), Strange Affair (1981), La Balance (1982), and The Young Lieutenant (2005). Her other films include Day for Night (1973), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Tell No One (2006), and The Assistant (2015). In 2009, she was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Depardieu</span> French actress (born 1973)

Julie Marion Depardieu is a French actress who has appeared in a number of successful films.

<i>Moon in the Gutter</i> 1983 French film

The Moon in the Gutter is a 1983 French drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. It was entered into the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>Get Out Your Handkerchiefs</i> 1978 film by Bertrand Blier

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs is a 1978 French romantic comedy film directed by Bertrand Blier and starring Carole Laure, Gérard Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere and Riton Liebman. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards.

<i>Martin Guerre</i> (musical) 1996 musical

Martin Guerre is a two-act musical with a book by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, lyrics by Alain Boublil, Edward Hardy and Stephen Clark, and music by Claude-Michel Schönberg.

<i>Danton</i> (1983 film) 1983 French film

Danton is a 1983 French-language film depicting the last weeks of Georges Danton, one of the leaders of the French Revolution. It is an adaptation of the 1929 play The Danton Case by Stanisława Przybyszewska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">8th César Awards</span>

The 8th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, honoured the best French films of 1982 and took place on 26 February 1983 at Le Grand Rex in Paris. The ceremony was chaired by Catherine Deneuve and hosted by Jean-Claude Brialy. La Balance won the award for Best Film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Jacob (actress)</span> French actress (born 1956)

Catherine Jacob is a French film and theatre actress who has won a César Award for her role in Life Is a Long Quiet River (1988), and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Tatie Danielle (1990), Merci la vie (1991) and Neuf mois (1994). She has been two-time president of the Lumières Award. She is known for her voice and her charisma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swann Arlaud</span> French actor (born 1981)

Swann Arlaud is a French actor. He has appeared in films such as Romantics Anonymous (2010), Elles (2011), Les Anarchistes (2015), The Wakhan Front (2015), Baden Baden (2016), Bloody Milk (2017), By the Grace of God (2019), Valiant Hearts (2021), and Anatomy of a Fall (2023). Arlaud has won three César Awards. He won the César Award for Best Actor for Bloody Milk in 2018, and the César Award for Best Supporting Actor for both By the Grace of God in 2020 and for Anatomy of a Fall in 2024.

<i>Lost Illusions</i> (2021 film) 2021 French film

Lost Illusions is a 2021 French drama film directed by Xavier Giannoli, from a screenplay by Giannoli and Jacques Fieschi, based upon the first two parts of Illusions perdues (1837–43) by Honoré de Balzac. It stars Benjamin Voisin, Xavier Dolan, Vincent Lacoste, Cécile de France, Gérard Depardieu, and Jeanne Balibar.

References

  1. While the modern spelling of the village name is Thil in French, it is Tilh in local langue d'oc. This was evidently the spelling used at the time of the story, as witnessed by the spelling of Arnaud du Tilh. This is also the spelling used by Natalie Zemon Davis in her book on Martin Guerre.
  2. "1983 Award Winners". National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  3. "1984 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". Oscars.org. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  4. "Beatriz's War in Australian Cinemas : A Guerra da Beatriz". www.aguerradabeatriz.com.

Bibliography