La bataille de Gaulle: L'âge de fer
"The general that refused to surrender."
Director: Antonin Baudry
Cast: Simon Abkarian, Simon Russell Beale, Florian Lesieur, Benoît Magimel, Mathieu Kassovitz
De Gaulle: Résistance — Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
Quoi qu'il arrive, la flamme de la résistance française ne doit pas s'éteindre et ne s'éteindra pas.
Context
Spoken during his historic June 18, 1940 radio appeal from the BBC studios in London.
Meaning
The cornerstone thesis of the entire diptych, crystallizing De Gaulle's absolute refusal to accept defeat.
Vous me reprochez d'être intraitable. Mais je n'ai rien d'autre que mon intransigeance pour faire respecter la France !
Context
Shouted at Winston Churchill during a stormy conference over Allied strategy in Africa and the Levant.
Meaning
Captures the core paradox of De Gaulle's exile: possessing neither an army nor a treasury, stubborn dignity was his only diplomatic weapon.
Jurez de ne déposer les armes que lorsque nos couleurs, nos belles couleurs, flotteront sur la cathédrale de Strasbourg.
Context
Spoken while swearing the Oath of Koufra with his Free French troops in the Libyan desert.
Meaning
Illustrates the romantic, almost mythical determination that drove Free French forces from the Sahara to the eventual liberation of Europe.
Pour la France, la vraie.
Context
Spoken before the assassination of Admiral Darlan in Algiers.
Meaning
Summarizes the moral clash between bureaucratic survivalism (Vichy) and sacrificial idealism.
Explore More About This Movie
Dive deeper into specific aspects of the movie with our detailed analysis pages