Synopsis
Spring 1944: Betrayed by her collaborationist husband, Séverine Sevanot travels from Paris to her beloved hometown in southwest France. Séverine’s friends and family have urged her not to go: the region is a tinderbox where the French are fighting not only the Nazis, but their own countrymen who support the pro-German Vichy regime. Séverine ignores the advice. She always does exactly what she wants.
Summer 1994: To mark the 50th anniversary of D-Day, an American reporter interviews 85-year-old Caroline Aubry, Séverine’s sister. Caroline tells of fleeing the Germans by taking to the road in May 1940, then returning to a Paris that has been overrun by Germans flirting with young French girls, playing oom-pah band music in the parks, and imposing strict rationing on the city while keeping the best food and wine for themselves.
What Caroline omits is a story she has never revealed, even to her son Félix. Now, though, unsettled by the interview and the memories it evokes, Caroline decides that it is time for Félix to learn the secrets of the past…