Un Village Français 6.10

La Loi du désir

or The Law of Desire

4 Sep 1944

The trial continues but things go sideways after Daniel Larcher reveals that he knows about the 14 coffins. Bériot decides that in order to make like the verdict wasn't decided in advance they must let four or five of the men off. Anselme balks at this suggestion and quits.

Atoine and Suzanne stay on. Bériot's assistant becomes the third judge. They pardon the five youngest members of the militia, including Alban. Geneviève, Alban's sister, is grateful to Antoine but, now that he knows who she is, he doesn't want to see her anymore. He urges her to forget about him.

The nine men who were sentenced to death are executed but things don't go exactly according to plan. Antoine is been put in charge of the firing squad. The militiamen start singing. One of the members of the firing squad says they can't shoot them while they are singing. Suzanne decides she's had enough. She takes the rifle from the man who is questioning the order to open fire while they are still singing and leads the firing squad in gunning down the convicted men.

Rita and her son David stays with Ézéchiel Cohn and his daughter. He tells her about his plan to move to Palestine. David starts running a fever. They can't get a hold of a doctor. Ézéchiel leads them in prayer. David gets better. Marchetti shows up later while Ézéchiel and his daughter are out. He wants Rita and David to leave with him.

Jeanine and Raymond get into an argument about what to do next. She has been talking to her father who seems to think that he can get Bériot replaced with someone they who will play ball with them. Their argument gets interrupted by Anselme and his men. Raymond tries to stop them from taking her but they beat him up and take her anyway.

Lucienne finds Kurt's body. She is heartbroken. She and Jules start to make arrangements to bury him with a false name. 

Antoine is put in charge of the police department in Villeneuve. Geneviève comes to see him, in another attempt to reconcile with him after their one night of passion and his saving her brother. He pushes her away once again. Later she gets picked up by some of the new police officers. They remember where they saw her before. She was one of the women seen bathing with the German soldiers in the woods in 1943. Antoine tells them to back off because she's with him.

Thoughts

Marchetti returns but there is still no sign of Hortense. Will Mueller ever surface again or is he gone for good? What happened to Xavier? I didn't hear his name among the list of men who weren't convicted nor did I see him among those who were executed.

This was a good episode. The executions finally happened. Will Antoine be able to keep Genevieve safe? It looks like things are over between him and Suzanne. Raoul seems to be quite firmly part of Anselme's team. What is in their future? Marchetti will get caught. I have no doubt of that but how will it happen? My guess is that Jeanine's, Geneviève's, and possibly Hortense's fates will play a big role in at least one of the last two episodes of the season.