Un Village Français 1.02

Chaos

or Chaos

Dr. Larcher and his family run across his nephew, Gustave, while they are headed back towards Villeneuve. They take him with them. They are forced to abandon their vehicles outside of town. They are escorted back to town by German soldiers. The German commander puts Dr. Larcher in charge of the citizens of Villeneuve, even though he really doesn't want to be. He is a deputy mayor. The mayor has fled.

Most of the people in Villeneuve are in the church. Gustave's father, Dr. Larcher's brother, and mother are there and he is reunited with them. There are lots of people who need medical help. Dr. Larcher gets to work. Hortense, his wife, tries to find Tequiero some milk. A nun who is responsible for rounding up orphans finds out that Tequiero is not Hortense's child. The nun insists that the child will be better in the orphanage. Hortense feels otherwise.

Dr. Larcher, in addition to taking care of patients, has been charged with pacifying the people of Villeneuve. Jean Marchetti, one of the policemen in town, helps Dr. Larcher in rounding up weapons that people have. Dr. Larcher is very nervous about doing it but he starts to grow into the role. He has a tense moment with some communists who don't want to hand over their guns, but he talks them into it.

Lucienne, the school teacher, winds up helping Dr. Larcher for a time. She was sent by the headmistress of the school to find the mayor. The Germans want to take over the school and use it as a barracks. Dr. Larcher doesn't have time for the headmistress's concerns. Lucienne helps him for a while but eventually the wounded and dead get to her and she leaves.

A number of people have dysentery which adds a new challenge. Dr. Larcher is worried about it spreading and does what he can with some help from a few others to isolate everyone who is sick. He comes across Tequiero's mother while he is tending to patients. She is dead.

Raymond Schwartz continues to pursue Marie Germain, with whom he has been having an affair. She tries to push him away but he keeps after her. Her husband is a soldier in the French army. She hasn't seen him for quite some time. She eventually gives in to Raymond's advances.

The Germans enter the church looking for an Austrian communist. He is someone that Dr. Larcher knows but he says he doesn't recognize him. The Germans search the church and eventually find him. He was in the process of trying to sneak out. The Germans soldiers shoot him. Many rounds are fired. One or more of the bullets strike down the nun who wanted to take Tequiero.

Thoughts

This episode focuses on Dr. Larcher for the most part. I assume that other episodes will be focused on other characters although he is clearly one of the main characters of the show.

This is grim stuff. It is very well done. It seems to me that the makers of this show are focused on atmosphere as much as they are on telling the story of what happened.

I was once again impressed. The actor who plays Dr. Larcher is very good, as are most of the cast of this show. I'm curious to see how the show evolves. The first 6 episodes are set in 1940. I don't know much about this season other than that. I could read ahead but I would rather not. I already know that not all of the characters are in the show until the end. I assume that most if not all of the ones who don't make it to the end get killed or die.