“I am appalled at the liberties taken”: what historians think of the film “The Battle of Gaulle”

On the occasion of the highly anticipated release of the first chapter of the cinematic diptych retracing the life of General de Gaulle, Marianne took the pulse of connoisseurs of the statesman. They do not hide their disappointment about the historical inconsistencies which punctuate the film directed by Antonin Baudry, in theaters from June 3, 2026.

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“I am appalled by the liberties taken by the authors with historical truth,” thunders Éric Branca, French journalist and historian specializing in Gaullism. “De Gaulle is reduced to an Epinal image and a tangle of symbols. Why summarize the events to this extent, when the director had five hours of film? With such material, there is no point in overdoing it, reality is sufficient in itself. HAS”