France 2 is broadcasting “Adieu Monsieur Haffmann” this Sunday evening at 9:10 p.m. But is this film, which takes place during the Occupation, adapted from a true story?
When it was released in 2022, Adieu Monsieur Haffmann brought together 726,887 spectators in French cinemas. The film is broadcast on television this Sunday evening. France 2 offers its viewers to discover this historical film which takes place during the Second World War and the Occupation from 9:10 p.m.
Adieu Monsieur Haffmann takes us more precisely into the Paris of 1941. A man without history, François Mercier (Gilles Lellouche), wants more than anything to start a family with the woman he loves, Blanche (Sara Giraudeau). He works as an employee for a talented jeweler, Joseph Haffmann (Daniel Auteuil).
But the German occupation forces the latter to entrust his shop to his employee and to hide in his cellar. François Mercier accepts and offers him a special agreement which will change the destiny of our three characters.
Directed by Fred Cavayé, Adieu Monsieur Haffmann is a period film that looks back on the traumas of the German occupation and the Second World War. The feature film is truly inspired by very real and historically recorded facts, such as the obligation for Jews to hide or the despoiling of their property by German soldiers, Mr. Haffmann did not specifically exist. On the other hand, the role played by Sara Giraudeau is inspired by the director’s mother and grandmother.
His story is completely invented based on real historical elements. Originally, Adieu Monsieur Haffmann is a play by Jean-Philippe Daguerre, performed for the first time in 2016 and having won four Molières in 2018. However, if it is an adaptation of this work, the filmmaker took liberties with the original, notably in the trajectory of the character played by Gilles Lellouche.