Overview
- The second part of Antonin Baudry’s diptych, La Bataille de Gaulle: J’écris ton nom, opened in French cinemas on Friday, June 26 and is being promoted with high-profile interviews and press coverage.
- The film begins in January 1943 and portrays the convergence of Free French forces, showing General Leclerc’s frontline role, Jean Moulin’s Resistance networks and Allied politics surrounding de Gaulle.
- Key cast members include Simon Abkarian as Charles de Gaulle, Niels Schneider as General Leclerc and Thierry Lhermitte as General Henri Giraud, and the film’s runtime is reported at roughly 2 hours 40 minutes.
- Critics are split: Le Parisien gave a strongly positive 4.5/5 review for the film’s lyricism and emotional weight, while Le Nouvel Obs called the project an over-calibrated Pathé blockbuster that amplifies the first film’s weaknesses.
- Industry context matters because Pathé positioned the diptych as a summer blockbuster to boost French historical cinema, and the first episode’s weak commercial start has sharpened attention on box office results and how the films shape national memory.