Le chagrin et la pitié : Chronicle of a French City Under German occupation – history and memory

Abstract

A documentary in which the camera serves an idea, Le chagrin et la pitié by Marcel Ophüls is certainly not a historical film in the traditional sense. However, it can be considered a film of history. It contributes to oral history by constructing a narrative of a period through the testimonies of those who lived through it; it performs a historical function by offering interpretations of the era using archival materials that support how the individuals recall their past lives; and, finally, it has historical significance because it encourages the French to stop suppressing their collective memory of the German Occupation during the Second World War.