Lucien is a young soldier in the French army during the First World War. Recently married and with a young daughter, his only aim is to get through the war unscathed and get back to his wife and daughter. But this world is turned upside down by a pair of trousers.
Acting
Wadeck Stanczak's desperate everyman breaks you.
Direction
Boisset's restraint makes the horror hit harder.
Director
Yves Boisset
Wadeck Stanczak
Lucien Bersot
Philippe Volter
Lt. Guérin
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu
Col. Auoux
Jean-Paul Comart
Lt. André
Jacques Chailleux
Langouin
Serge Kribus
Sgt. de Velna
Bouli Lanners
Sgt. Fourrier
Jean-Henri Compère
Capitaine
Marie Verdi
Marie-Louise
Georges Siatidis
Chauffeur
Bernard Marbaix
Colonel d'état-major
Riton Liebman
Moline
Marc Berman
Cmndt. Poupinel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on real 1915 execution of soldier Jean-Bersot; France didn't officially pardon him until 2014. The pants were genuinely 6cm too short.
Part of France's slow reckoning with WWI 'decimation' executions; this TV film helped push 2000s military justice reforms. Still banned from some school curricula for being 'too anti-patriotic.'
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