Week-end à Zuydcoote (English title: Weekend at Dunkirk) is a 1964 French war drama film directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Pierre Mondy. It is based on a book by Robert Merle. The eponymous Zuydcoote is a location in the close vicinity of Dunkirk, some scenes have been filmed on the beaches there.
In late May 1940, Julien Maillat, a French soldier, tries to evacuate by sea with the British Expeditionary Force on the Royal Navy flotilla as they are trapped by the German army in the pocket of Dunkirk. No matter how hard he tries to make it, he and his partners are hard pressed to get away as the fight is getting harder and Germans are getting closer and closer.
Compare two English language films about the Battle of Dunkirk
and Operation Dynamo, Dunkirk (1958) and Dunkirk (2017).
Tropes:
- Character Catchphrase: Pinot, with "Aussi sec!" translation . Julien even makes fun of it.
- Deadpan Snarker: Julien is very sarcastic. It helps that he's played by Jean-Paul Belmondo, whose roles often required this.
- Death from Above: Stuka planes strafe British and French soldiers on the beaches of Dunkirk.
- Gratuitous English: When he is refused access to the flotilla by a British officer who prioritizes his own British soldiers, Julien starts addressing him with the only English words he knows, which are Association Football-related terms.British officer: Vous ne comprenez pas? (You don't understand?)
Maillat: Yes! Goalkeeper, corner, penalty... - Just Following Orders: The British officer, refusing to allow French soldiers to board the British boats.British officer: Je m'excuse. J'ai des ordres. (Sorry. I'm following orders.)
- Love Epiphany: During the bombing in the basement.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Despite the German army approaching, the movie focuses on the crime of two French soldiers, trying to rape a woman and being stopped by Julien.
- Stuka Scream: Justified, as such planes were used profusely by the Germans to harass convoys and stationary troops in 1940.
- War Is Hell: The film shows the chaotic and desperate mindset of the French soldiers trapped in the Dunkirk pocket as the German army closes in, as well as deviant behaviours such as soldiers trying to rape local women.
