Laszlo Nemes, the Hungarian filmmaker who stunned Cannes with the searing Holocaust drama ‘Son of Saul’, returns to the Croisette with another harrowing journey into WWII in Europe. But while ‘Son of Saul’ immersed audiences in the machinery of extermination, Nemes’ new competition entry, ‘Moulin’, explores France under the German occupation through the eyes of French Resistance hero Jean Moulin. This is a completely different perspective from his previous film, and Nemes wanted to steer clear of caricatures on either side of the conflict. He wanted to make a movie that would go beyond just an empty, obligatory homage, and instead provide an immersive take on what Jean Moulin went through and the choices he made.
Nemes was drawn to the philosophical and moral dimensions of Moulin’s resistance, and the confrontation between him and Klaus Barbie, the infamous Nazi officer known as the ‘Butcher of Lyon’. The film is set in the final 10 days of Moulin’s life, and Nemes wanted to make sure that the audience would become a friend and a witness to Moulin, rather than a voyeur. The film is not a torture movie, but rather a thriller with elements of a spy movie, adventurousness, and some epic quality.
Nemes wanted to make sure that the film would be truthful and not a circus, and he worked with his actors to achieve this. He wanted to avoid the two-dimensional heroes and villains, and instead show the human side of both Moulin and Barbie. The film was shot in Budapest, with some visual effects and original photos from the time used to recreate Lyon.
Nemes hopes that the film will be shown in schools and that it will speak universally to audiences worldwide. He wants to make a movie that goes beyond just a love letter to France, and instead focuses on the universal themes of humanism and the clash of civilizations. Nemes believes that the film is relevant today, with the rise of the far right, and that it can help people understand the complexities of the resistance and the collaboration during WWII.
