Memoir of War 2018

As the Allied forces close in on Paris during the sweltering summer of 1944, Robert, a writer and courageous resister, finds himself behind bars, arrested by the occupying Germans. His distraught wife, Marguerite, a fellow writer and integral member of the same resistance network, is approached by a duplicitous French collaborator working for the Gestapo, who purports to possess information on her husband’s fate. In return, he brazenly demands intel on Morland, an influential figure in the resistance, while hinting at a clandestine affair. After conferring with Dionys, the enigmatic leader of their network and her own lover, Marguerite decides to play along with the treacherous collaborator. Their clandestine meetings become a regular occurrence, during which he lavishes her with scarce resources, but she steadfastly refuses to yield any crucial information or succumb to his advances. He does, however, reveal that Robert has been deported to a concentration camp in Germany.

As Paris is liberated and the Gestapo’s reign of terror comes to an end, the focus of the resistance shifts from combat to securing the freedom of their captured comrades and supporting their families. With Allied forces liberating concentration camps across Europe in the spring of 1945, whispers begin to circulate about the fates of those interned. Marguerite is tormented by the uncertainty, her emotions torn asunder by hope and despair, until it is finally confirmed that Robert is alive, albeit near death, in Dachau. Dionys and Morland procure a vehicle and necessary documentation to effect Robert’s safe return to Paris. When he has recovered sufficiently to work and travel, Marguerite takes him on a much-needed holiday in Italy, only to ultimately divorce him.