Un Village Français 1.06

Coup de froid

or Cold Spell

Nov 11, 1940

Gustave is working on his letter to Marshall Pétain when Suzanne Richard arrives at the house. Marcel tells his son that his handwriting is too messy and that he needs to recopy the letter. Gustave doesn't have any more pages in his notebook so he uses a loose piece of paper. Neither Gustave, nor Marcel, nor Suzanne notices it but the piece of paper on which he recopies his letter one of the fliers which Suzanne and Marcel are planning to put in the newspapers.

Marcel and Suzanne run into a setback. They are trying to insert the fliers into the newspapers which are already tied into bundles but the bundles are too tight and they can't get them in every paper. They need to cut the bundles apart in order to get the fliers into the papers. They get string from the sawmill to retie the bundles. They don't notice it but Raymond sees them. He was sleeping there with Marie Germain. 

The principal of the school invites a couple German soldiers to witness the reading of the letters to the Marshall. At least one the soldiers speaks French. The principal has also invited the school official who reprimanded Lucienne.

The morning papers get delivered. Marchetti opens one of them and finds one of the fliers. He takes it to the sub-prefect and the mayor. Marchetti is more than ready to investigate and figure out who did it. The sub-prefect puts him in charge of the investigation. Suzanne Richard is the first suspect. She was seen arriving late to work at the post office. 

Un Village Français 1.05

div>Marchés noirs

or Black Markets

Nov 7, 1940

Raymond Schwartz is at the movies with Jeannine, his wife. He breaks away from his wife briefly to rendezvous with Marie Germain, his lover. They are caught kissing by Sarah Meyer, his housekeeper. Raymond asks Sarah not to say anything. She promises to keep silent about what she saw. She isn't supposed to be there. It isn't her day off. She is supposed to be working. Raymond doesn't care but Jeannine would, if she knew.

Someone starts booing during a newsreel showing Marshall Pétain meeting with Adolph Hitler. Von Ritter, the German commander, wants the offender found. He tells this to Dr. Larcher, the mayor, and Servier, the Deputy Prefect. He wants results. Larcher and Servier turn to De Kervern and Marchetti. They task the two police officers with finding the people who booed at the newsreel. De Kervern doesn't want to do it but Marchetti has ideas about how to approach the task.

Marcel almost gets arrested by a couple French police officers. He was accused of handing out communists pamphlets by a man on the street but when they stop him he doesn't have anything to prove he is a communist. Suzanne Richard, a woman whom he doesn't know, helps him out get rid of the pamphlets he was carrying. They meet up later on. She isn't a communist but she tells him about plans to rally support against the Germans. 

Un Village Français 1.04

Sur la terre comme aux ciel

or On Earth as it is in Heaven

Oct 15, 1940

Jacques is walking through the woods near Villeneuve when he sees a parachute. He finds the man who landed nearby. He is an English pilot and he's wounded.

A man shows up at the home of Daniel Larcher. The man is looking for his new born son. He has a picture of his wife. The woman in the picture is the mother of Tequiero. Daniel claims he wasn't in town the day that the man says his son was born, Jun 12. The man leaves empty handed. Daniel doesn't tell Hortense, his wife, who was at the door.

Raymond Schwartz is driving Marie Germain home when they get stopped by Jacques. He has a gun and he insists that they come with him. He takes them to the English pilot. Together they get him into a small abandoned cabin. Marie tries to care for him but he is badly wounded. Raymond has to leave. He has a meeting with Von Ritter.

Tequiero's father goes to see the police, De Kervern and Marchetti. They ask him some questions and recommend he talk to Dr. Larcher. He explains that he already did but Dr. Larcher lied to him.

Un Village Français 1.03

Passer la ligne

or Crossing the Line

Sep 30, 1940

Von Ritter, the German commander, comes to Raymond Schwartz. The Germans are in need of boards to fix up the school which they are now using as a barracks. Von Ritter hopes that Schwartz's saw mill can provide the needed material.

A German military telephone cable was cut the night before. Von Ritter comes to Daniel Larcher, who is now officially the mayor of Villeneuve. Von Ritter wants a list of 20 men. Larcher agrees to get him the list. Larcher then turns to De Kervern and Machetti, the two policemen in town. He talks them into investigating the crime.

Raymond Schwartz receives a note that Marie Germain's husband was killed in the fighting. He is tasked with delivering the news to her. The route to her place is blocked by German troops but he gets someone to relay a message to her. She comes to the road block. He gives her the news and a letter that was found on her husband.

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.

Un Village Français 1.01

Le débarquement

or The Landing

June 1940. The war is getting closer to the French town of Villeneuve but life goes on. A group of school children, with two of their teachers, are out having a picnic when the Germans attack. One of the teachers and two students are killed by German fighter planes. Lucienne, the surviving teacher, gathers the rest of the kids together but Gustave, one of the students has run off scared into the woods and can't be found.

Raymond Schwartz, owner of a saw mill, is dealing with French policemen who are looking for communists when the Germans roll into town. His foreman, Marcel, is a communist and responsible for the printed literature that led the police to the saw mill. The investigation is forgotten once the Germans arrive. Raymond is driving Marcel home when they see the class of kids in a field. Marceau, Raymond's son was wounded in the attack. Marcel's son is the missing Gustave.

Daniel Larcher, a doctor and brother of Marcel, delivers a baby just as the Germans are rolling into town. The mother is a Spanish refugee. She starts to hemorrhage after giving birth. He tries to rush her to a nearby hospital but runs into a blockade manned by French troops. He pays them to take her to a hospital but has to keep the baby. He takes the baby home to Hortense, his wife. They give him the name Tequiero, the name that the mother wanted him to have.

Gustave, Marcel's son, meets a wanderer named Jacques who encourages the boy to come with him. Gustave stays with Jacques until he frightens the boy by taking stuff off the bodies of dead French soldiers whom they find alongside the road.

The episode ends with Raymond getting home with his son Marceau. Jeannine, his wife, wants to know what they are going to do. He starts to make plans but then the Germans show up and take charge of his house.