Ahead of its early release, La Bataille de Gaulle – Part 2: I Write Your Name unfolds in a trailer that aims to feel more epic.
La Bataille de Gaulle will it be able to pull through with its second installment? The two-film project by Antonin Baudry (The Wolf’s Call) represents a major gamble for Pathé, which has heavily invested in this dive into the arcana of World War II (roughly 70 to 75 million euros, according to sources). The problem is the project isn’t as easy to market as The Three Musketeers, and even less so than The Count of Monte Cristo, attempts by the distributor to recreate French blockbuster from literary classics.
In trying to summon History with a capital H while aiming to stay critical of a figure as complex as the General, La Bataille de Gaulle isn’t sure on which foot to dance, nor which audience to target. That shows in the modest admissions for its first installment (620,000 admissions in two weeks, whereas the second half of The Three Musketeers had piled up 711,000 in a week), and in the distributor’s chaotic strategy. Supposed to be spaced about a month apart, the two installments have shortened that gap, and I Write Your Name lands in theaters on June 26 instead of July 3. Hence the release of a new trailer.
A Diptych That Falters?
It’s unlikely that I Write Your Name will differ much from Iron Age, but the slow, laborious setup of the stakes might not have been in vain. For those who felt that La Bataille de Gaulle dragged its feet, bogged down by a flood of events and names to rattle off so Parisians could study their subway stops, its sequel promises to cash in.
That should be especially evident in the increased presence of General Leclerc (played by Niels Schneider). Baudry is expected to linger on his campaign in North Africa, and perhaps even on the significance of the 2nd Armored Division (often nicknamed Leclerc’s Division) during the Normandy landings.
Meanwhile, the resistance fighter played by Anamaria Vartolomei will join Jean Moulin’s network (Félix Kysyl) to illustrate the courage of France’s “secret army.” On Charles de Gaulle’s side, the film is expected to lean even more into his fierce clash with Eisenhower’s government, partly depicted through his rivalry with Henri Giraud (Thierry Lhermitte), another major liberation-era military figure backed by the Americans.
All of this turbulence could once again overload the project, especially if Baudry proves unable to make decisive storytelling choices. To find out for sure, head to theaters on June 26, or catch Iron Age now.
