The Two of us - 1967

French film directed by Claude Berri and based primarily on Berri's own story of being hidden from the Nazi occupation of France during World War II by his parents.

The film stars Michel Simon (as the grandfatherly Pepe) who welcomes little 8 year old Claude (Alain Cohen) into his rural farmhouse where he and his middle-aged wife live. Claude has been sent there to be out of the fighting zones of the war, but secretly Claude is also being hidden because he is Jewish, something that the resolutely anti-semitic Pepe is not aware of. The elderly man and little Claude bond and the film tells of their war years together, with much of the tale soaked in humor. The story is not all fun though, and Berri directs the movie trying to explore the contradictions of the situation and in general the relationships of Pepe with his own (grown) children.

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