In an unbelievable wartime wedding ceremony on the notorious focus camp of Buchenwald, two Jewish captives have been united in matrimony: a Frenchwoman named Jeanne “Janot” Reichenbach and her longtime lover, Léon Blum, a former socialist prime minister of France. The ceremony was made potential as a result of Reichenbach had voluntarily sought to affix Blum on the camp after he was imprisoned there in 1943.
Reichenbach’s braveness is mirrored in a brand new French function movie, “Je ne rêve que de vous,” with the English title “An Irrepressible Girl.” Directed by acclaimed French Jewish filmmaker Laurent Heynemann, it was lately screened at its Midwest premiere on the Chicago JCC Jewish Movie Competition on March 1.
A veteran director and a member of the Legion of Honor, Heynemann described himself as “keen about historical past” in an electronic mail interview with The Occasions of Israel. Along with World Conflict II, his earlier work consists of movies about different important intervals in French historical past, such because the reign of Louis XIV and the Algerian Conflict. For his newest WWII mission, he wished to inform the story of the conflict via a feminine perspective.
Heynemann realized about Reichenbach — who later took Blum’s surname — from a novel by French historian Dominique Missika. “When you have got such a robust character, you’re fairly certain there’s a film behind it,” Heynemann stated.
Because the movie displays, Reichenbach needed to make troublesome decisions throughout the conflict, together with forgoing escape from Europe to stick with Blum — the primary Jewish prime minister of France, who served as premier thrice over the course of his life, each earlier than and after the conflict.
Reichenbach didn’t depart Blum at the same time as his state of affairs worsened after the Fall of France. Vichy positioned him and different former leaders on trial for alleged duty for France’s 1940 defeat by Germany, then suspended the trial and despatched him to Buchenwald.
“This can be a movie about two wonderful individuals, each of whom made a profound impression on the world during which they lived,” Ilene Uhlmann, director of the JCC Chicago Jewish Movie Competition, stated in an announcement. “Léon Blum was a revered politician in France till turning into vilified by the Vichy regime. Jeanne Reichenbach was a lady born earlier than her time. Her ambitions, energy and perseverance have been outstanding for this time.”
César award winner Elsa Zylberstein stars as Reichenbach. The actress has performed historic roles up to now, together with within the 1991 Maurice Pialat movie “Van Gogh.”
“I used to be on the lookout for somebody who may modernize Janot, give her an lively and energetic tone,” Heynemann stated. “When she acts, it appears like she’s grabbing the film and I like it.”
Elsa Zylberstein stars as Jeanne Reichenbach in ‘Je ne rêve que de vous,’ or ‘An Irrepressible Girl.’ (Courtesy)
She and co-star Hippolyte Girardot, who performs Blum, have drawn rave evaluations within the French press for his or her particular person roles and collective chemistry. Heynemann stated that “my favourite scenes are those that present the intimacy of Janot and Léon.”
In line with Heynemann, he and his co-screenwriter, Man Béraud, got here up with “a whole lot of totally different variations of the construction of the movie” earlier than deciding upon the ultimate minimize.
“There was even a model which started with the demise of Janot — like in ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’” Heynemann stated. “One other started with the return of Léon Blum in France in 1945, however we realized that the situation wanted to be articulated across the romantic relationship, and never solely on the historic reconstruction.”
French Jewish filmmaker Laurent Heynemann, director of ‘Je ne rêve que de vous,’ or ‘An Irrepressible Girl.’ (Courtesy/ David Koskas)
“I hope that Jeanne’s fixed impulse for Léon, this barely loopy, undivided monomania, speaks nicely of the kind of romantic relationship between these two characters,” Heynemann stated.
Might-December romance
Within the movie, Reichenbach (née Levylier) is described as first falling in love with Blum when she was 16. He was a 43-year-old husband and father, an mental who mentioned Goethe with Marcel Proust. After the demise of his first spouse, Lise Bloch, he remarried to Thérѐse Pereyra, who additionally predeceased him in 1938.
By decade’s finish, the celebrated creator had been prime minister twice, however his achievements as head of the Common Entrance socialist authorities — together with a 40-hour workweek and paid depart — have been unappreciated by anti-Semites.
“Léon Blum was an excellent sufferer of French anti-Semitism within the 1930s,” Heynemann stated. “Insulted, bodily assaulted, he at all times claimed that he was French, republican, atheist, socialist and Jew.”
Screenshot from ‘Je ne rêve que de vous,’ or ‘An Irrepressible Girl.’ (Courtesy)
By WWII, Reichenbach had married and divorced twice. Her first husband, Henry Torrès, was a outstanding French Jewish lawyer whose shoppers included Herschel Grynzpan, a Polish Jew who fatally shot German official Ernst von Rath — an occasion which the Nazis used as a pretext for the Kristallnacht pogrom. The couple had two kids. She then married French Jewish businessman Henri Reichenbach. The movie depicts each of her ex-husbands, and her son Georges Torrès, in flight from France. She is obtainable an opportunity to depart as nicely, however decides to stick with Blum.
Her loyalty is examined as Blum is imprisoned by Vichy, making it onerous for her to go to him. She is challenged in one other means by Blum’s stepdaughter Renée Blum, who additionally stays in France to assist him. Performed by Cannes award-winner Émilie Dequenne, Renée Blum initially disapproves of Reichenbach’s presence, which she considers scandalous. But she softens as she realizes how a lot her stepfather and Reichenbach love one another and profit from one another’s firm.
Uncommon pairing
When the stakes get greater for Blum, his stepdaughter and his lover work collectively to assist him. Within the Riom Trial, which started in 1942, Vichy accused him and different former leaders of duty for France’s defeat. Reichenbach and Renée Blum present solidarity throughout the trial, as do different ladies with ties to these earlier than the court docket — together with singer Cora Madou, the spouse of accused former minister Man La Chambre, and Béatrice Bretty, a TV star and important different of French Jewish politician Georges Mandel.
Screenshot from ‘Je ne rêve que de vous,’ or ‘An Irrepressible Girl.’ (Courtesy)
In a memorable scene, Madou is unable to pay for her lodge room and sings for it as a substitute. She and Janot crew up for a rousing efficiency of Madou’s “I solely dream of him” — a track that “had the advantage of [echoing] one thing Janot might need stated about Léon,” Heynemann stated.
The trial is suspended after Vichy grows afraid of sympathy towards the defendants. In 1943, Blum is distributed to Buchenwald. Reichenbach visits the infamous Vichy second-in-command, Pierre Laval, and asks for permission to affix her lover on the camp. She stays there with Blum, his Jehovah’s Witness aide Joachim, and a fellow inmate, Georges Mandel, in situations remoted from the distress of the greater than 200,000 common inmates throughout the conflict. The Nazis even allow their wedding ceremony, which is attended by Joachim and Mandel, in addition to by camp workers members, one in all whom officiates.
Screenshot of the wedding scene between Leon Blum and Jeanne Reichenbach from ‘Je ne rêve que de vous,’ or ‘An Irrepressible Girl.’ (Courtesy)
“This wedding ceremony will enable her to by no means depart Léon and particularly within the episode of their launch [which is not in the film], she was capable of show her legitimacy as a spouse to stick with him, as a result of the Germans wished to separate them,” Heynemann stated.
The couple survived the conflict, however at important value. Mandel was killed by the Fascist Milice militia. Reichenbach’s ex-husband Henri Reichenbach dedicated suicide throughout the conflict, and her son Georges Torrès died combating for the Allies throughout the liberation of France in 1944. He had, nevertheless, married his spouse Tereska Torrès, and so they had a daughter, Dominique Torrès. Heynemann calls Tereska Torrès “a rare lady.”
Screenshot from ‘Je ne rêve que de vous,’ or ‘An Irrepressible Girl.’ (Courtesy)
After the conflict, Blum went on to serve a 3rd time period as prime minister earlier than his demise in 1950. That very same 12 months, his widow based a faculty to coach deprived women in medical careers that also exists right now.