Xavier Giannoli says criticism that Les Rayons et les Ombres invites sympathy for characters is ‘profoundly dishonest’
The director of a box office hit film about Nazi collaboration and its Oscar-winning star have described criticisms they have whitewashed wartime atrocities as dishonest and “a scandal”.
Xavier Giannoli and the actor Jean Dujardin were responding to a bitter row that has divided French historians over the film Les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays and Shadows), which recounts the story of the wartime press baron Jean Luchaire.
Luchaire, who was a pacifist, became a Nazi collaborator during the Occupation of France when he worked as commissioner for information and propaganda for the puppet Vichy regime. Luchaire was executed for treason in 1946.
Giannoli rejected accusations he had produced what one critic called “a masterclass in historical gaslighting”, insisting he had worked closely with historians to write the screenplay. He said critics attacks were “factually false”.
