A French Village: Season 2

SPOILER ALERT ahead!I'm proud to be the first to review this excellent program! Superb series, engrossing, exciting and intriguing. Almost never any dead time or slow spots in this engaging drama of a small French village under the German occupation during World War II. The tensions between the French who collaborate in the interests of protecting their friends, family and neighbors, and those who resist---mostly for political reasons (a lot are Communists) is explored in a serious, non-trivializing manner. For example, the doctor/mayor struggles mightily with his dilemma: he cooperates with the Wehrmacht leadership in order to protect the citizens who he has lived with all his life. But he gets grief for it from some people, because it requires him to make decisions which hurt the very same people. Like at one point the Germans plan to execute 20 hostages because of a Resistance attack on a German officer. He is able to negotiate this down to 10 hostages---but HE must decide which 10. You sympathize with his agony over deciding which of his neighbors will be killed. These are decisions which will surely plague him the remainder of his life.The series offers a great deal of historical realism, from my reading of true-life accounts of the Occupation. Plus my mother and grandmother, along with their relatives, lived 4 years in Paris under the Germans so I have some direct familiarity with people who lived under the experience. However there are some incidents which strike me as rather incredible. I don't consider them to hurt my enjoyment of the series and I doubt they would yours. Unfortunately, they want the "heroes" of the show to do heroic things and survive to appear in the next episode so some incidents stretch credibility. Like when the mayor aids his brother's escape, after the brother is being pursued for direct involvement in the cold-blooded shooting of a German officer. The German secret police, the SD, arrest him and start to even torture him but the local Wehrmacht commander, who has a cordial working relationship with the mayor, intercedes and frees him. He also arranges to send the SD man to the Eastern Front! This strikes me as incredible in the extreme. Sure during the initial months of the Occupation the Germans tried to tread somewhat lightly ON the French in the hope that they could eventually bring Vichy into the Axis as a full-fledged member. But surely a small town mayor who assists the escape of an assassin is going to get some kind of punishment beyond a few bruises. A similar incident occurs earlier where a woman is tortured into providing the name of her Communist cellmate and then released. She quickly tips off her comrades who take action to avoid capture. Surely the Germans at least would have kept her incarcerated until they rounded up the members of the cell.What I also like greatly about the series is that most of the characters are complex... not the usual black-and-white paintings typical of war movies. The Commandant is a human being; the German sergeant is an artist who falls in love with the French school teacher;, the mayor's brother, albeit a communist, questions the mindless orders that come down from headquarters; Schwartz, played masterfully by Thierry Godard (Spiral) is torn about keeping his business alive (and his employees working) by providing lumber and concrete to the Wehrmacht; even the SD chief, Muller, while reprehensible in the end, is shown as a creature with a human side, a very rare fictional depiction for a member of the Gestapo/SD. In some ways the worst-behaved person in the entire show is the mayor's wife, played by the delectable Audrey Fleurot (of Spiral), who cheats on her saintly spouse repeatedly, finally sleeping with the SD officer and even going beyond the pale when she uses information obtained from her nephew to tip off the SD that her hunted brother-in-law will be visiting the mayor's home secretly that night. This is a betrayal so palpable that the mayor's decision to divorce her finally comes as a relief.The series shows its stereotypical French origin in the number of instances of adultery, fornication, pregnancies outside of marriage, etc., which only adds to the intensity of the stories! More seriously it also addresses the complex and sometimes deplorable attitude French people had/have toward the Jews who live in their communities.Highly recommended! I only hope they rush out Season 3 through 6, with English subtitles, since it will be frustrating to have to wait months or years to see how the series advances.

This show keeps getting better.. If that's even possible. The characters are so well developed and so well played. Got to admit was a tad tired of Hortense's shenanigans. She went from devoted wife and mother to .well I'll leave that for you to figure out or I'm blowing the plot. The tension from the occupation is rising. Any resistance meets with Germans taking hostage and at one point, the Mayor barters with them-if he makes a list will the reduce the number they're about to shoot? They agree and he's left with decisions you know will haunt him. He is looking more and more exhausted and I have to wonder if he's about to break. Miseur Schwartz is turning into quite the callous sod, but maybe he'll finally ditch his nasty wife. The lovely Luciene is faced with tough choices with her Franco-German love affair-I have to say, I'm adoring the school principal Mr Beriot... I hope he gets a happy story-he maintains cheer for his students, rouses up the community with a "dance" (dancing is outlawed But he finds a way to bring it into an event The smiles on the locals faces clearly make it worthwhile). I wish I knew where this was filmed. The town is quite lovely. The extras at the finish are a lovely touch. A short segment from a leading historian on what was occuring in France and interviews with people who recall it. Makes you see just how well done this show is. Can't wait for the next season. Get this show!! The love, despair, joy, horror-very moving and heartfelt

I have been trying for over 2 years to get hold of this series of DVDs with English subtitles. I have watched both seasons in less than a week and believe me when I say that it hasn't let me down. The story is true to life at the time and does not shy away from the difficulties faced then. My only issue is how and when can I get seasons 3 to 6. Please hurry up and provide them. The videos are well translated and the acting is great. As a fan of foreign film and especially anything to do with resistance in France I am very impressed. Even if you know nothing of the era it is a great stand alone drama series. We fall in love with the characters and my children aged 16 and 18 are thoroughly hooked too which does not happen often when. As my son says why do you always want to redid to and films mum?Get it now, you won't regret it. X

I really enjoy this series and it's certainly helping me as I relearn french (I once was fluent), however the episode order is wrong for season 2. It was very confusing until I figured out what was wrong! The order of episodes should be as follows: A Time for Secrets; Our Father; The Stakeout; If I were Free; Choice of Weapons; The Blue Java; One Chance out of Two; The Choice; What is Your Name: For the Sake of Love; The Traitor; and Settling Scores. Hopefully Amazon will correct this!

This is part of a 7-season series and Season 1 needs to be seen before watching Season 2. Unless, you are well-versed in French history during WWII, the series will raise lots of questions because there are so many schisms within French village society that are revealed. What is shown is gripping and it is hard to watch more than one episode at a time, but it is worth the effort. After watching 5 seasons of this series, I ordered several history books on France during the Occupation and have found Le Village Français did not exaggerate. So I highly recommend the series overall.

We just finished this Season 2 of A French Village. (Purchased Season 1 several weeks ago, watched it, then just had to have Season 2.) I'm hoping the prices goes down a bit before I buy the remaining seasons. I surely wish that Amazon or someone would package all the seasons in a less-expensive packet so we wouldn't have to buy everything piecemeal and at a higher cost.This is an excellent series set during the Nazi Occupation of France. It is full of intrigue and full of the good, the bad, and the ugly of human nature. I highly recommend it.

used this product to fill in a season not on Amazon Prime. DVD Quality was terrible. The show is so good we watched it anyway.

Beautiful, addictive, compelling, feels true television. Up there with Heimat, Spiral, Babylon Berlin, and The Wire in story development. Nothing negative to say about the story lines and performances. Be careful, unless you can prove me wrong, this only plays on a Region 1 DVD player, which luckily I have in the Netherlands. These restrictions are made clear on the Amazon website. The English subtitling and general video quality is poor on series 1 but corrects itself from series 2 onwards.

This is a terrific depiction of the lengths, both good and not-so-good, people will go to when they live interrible times. Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Wonderful 40's period series, with love to detail, character development, script and unbiased view.For the people of the village life has to keep going in the face of an enemy, introducing an inhuman ideology, with ruthlessness and little regard for civil justice. This is personified in the Nazi SD (Gestapo) Village chief Mueller. A master in intimidation, torture, and pawn play, devilishly intelligent, a villain you would love to hate. You might compare him to the notorious Klaus Barbie (The butcher) of Lion.Interesting is the power play between the German Wehrmacht officers vs their Nazi police thugs. Nevertheless, the main focus is on our French village inhabitants who just try to survive, vs the once who seek opportunity in collaboration with their Nazi overlords. It effects all social classes, the very fabric of the village. Season one, introduces us into the characters with growing suspense, in season 2 we witness the birth of the French Resistance in all it's facets. If you have watched the other great French TV series SPIRAL, BRAQUO and Ceux De 14, you will be familiar with the great cast of French actors.

Ce téléfilm est un concentré de vie pendant l'occupation allemande de la seconde guerre mondiale. Ce n'est pas un film de guerre, mais un portrait saisissant de réalisme de civils français luttant chacun à leur façon pour survivre tant bien que mal. En effet, il n'y a pas de gentils et de méchants, l'ambivalence est au coeur de la petite histoire dans la grande. Par exemple, la jeune institutrice qui tombe amoureuse d'un soldat allemand n'est pas une collabo pour autant, bien au contraire, alors que Madame Swartz, une pétainiste convaincue, s'apprête à lui causer du tors dans la saison 3. Le téléspectateur reste cloué à son siège du début à la fin, on a l'impression d'y être pour de bon. A voir absolument.

Très satisfaite, j'attends avec un impatience les autres DVD commandés, c'est à dire VILLAGE FRANCAIS - saisons 3 et 4. Merci