Taglines: He saved their lives in silence,
Resistance opens in Munich, Nazi Germany. It is 1938 and Nazi Brown Shirts invade the home of a young Jewish girl, Elsbeth (played by Bella Ramsey), and kill her parents. The film continues in Strasbourg, France (near the German border), where Marcel Marceau (Jesse Eisenberg) works unfulfilled in his father’s butcher shop, disconnected from Nazi atrocities and eager for the arts, especially mime and painting.
During 1939, as Nazi power consolidates and World War II approaches, Marceau performs a cabaret impression of Charlie Chaplin, using the narrow moustache also favoured by Adolf Hitler. Visual similarities between Chaplin and Hitler frequent the film. Marceau’s passion for theatre strengthens further after discovering his father secretly performs opera.
While Marcel’s cousin, Georges (Géza Röhrig), involves himself with a Jewish arm of the French Resistance, Marcel and Emma (Clémence Poésy) fall in love. Marcel’s father, who had fled Poland years earlier, supports his son and Emma joining the anti-Nazi resistance. It is a decision that defines Marceau’s wartime experiences and brings tragic consequences for Marceau’s father: arrested in 1944 he dies in Auschwitz during 1945.
A Scout troop which Emma and Georges lead rescues 123 Jewish children whose parents were killed by Nazis. Marceau’s mime skills improve as he helps entertain the orphans in a nearby castle. Bonds with Emma also strengthen. After Germany invades Poland in autumn 1939 their involvement deepens with the French Resistance. Adults distribute the Jewish children into smaller groups to minimise their visibility, some to local churches and others to Jewish families. Marcel and Emma maintain contact with Elsbeth.
After 1941 Marceau’s story intertwines with the menacing Klaus Barbie (Matthias Schweighöfer), who is seen beating to death a Nazi homosexual in Berlin. Barbie portrays the murder as Aryan purification. Barbie arrives in Lyon in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of southern France. His aim is eliminating the French resistance. Barbie operates by bribing collaborators and brutal executions in an empty swimming pool at Gestapo Headquarters. Later, Barbie gains notoriety as “The Butcher of Lyon”.
Marcel and Emma also move to Lyon, with Georges, who narrowly evades capture during a Nazi sweep of Lyon’s train station. Marcel helps Georges escape by burning a German soldier. Emma and Mila, her sister, are less fortunate. Captured during another Gestapo roundup, Barbie tortures Mila to death while extracting information from Emma about the resistance. Emma survives by collaboration but later attempts suicide-by-train. Marceau saves her and they resolve to help Jewish children escape to Switzerland.
Resistance is a 2020 biographical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz, inspired by the life of Marcel Marceau. It stars Jesse Eisenberg as Marceau, with Clémence Poésy, Matthias Schweighöfer, Alicia von Rittberg, Félix Moati, Géza Röhrig, Karl Markovics, Vica Kerekes, Bella Ramsey, Ed Harris and Édgar Ramírez. An enduring theme concerns the harmful impact of war on children. The film’s closing titles declare: “[Nazis] killed 1.5 million children, including tens of thousands of Romani children, children with physical and mental disabilities… and over a million Jewish children.”
It was released in the United States on March 27, 2020, by IFC Films. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only a few independent and drive-in theaters remained open, Resistance topped the weekend box office in its opening weekend by earning $2,490 on one screen.
Resistance (2020)
Directed by: Jonathan Jakubowicz
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Clémence Poésy, Matthias Schweighöfer, Félix Moati, Géza Röhrig, Karl Markovics, Vica Kerekes, Bella Ramsey, Ed Harris, Édgar Ramírez, Alicia von Rittberg
Screenplay by: Jonathan Jakubowicz
Production Design by: Tomas Voth
Cinematography by: M.I. Littin-Menz
Film Editing by: Alexander Berner
Costume Design by: Katharina Ost
Set Decoration by: Ernestine Hipper
Art Direction by: Adela Hakova, Adriana Luna, Pierre Pfundt
Music by: Angelo Milli
MPAA Rating: R for some violence.
Distributed by: IFC Films, (United States), Warner Bros. Pictures
(Germany)
Release Date: March 27, 2020 (United States)
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