Set in Paris amid the turmoil of German-occupied France, Héléna Bourdelle, a.k.a. La Bourdelle, is a world-renowned opera star who shares a life with her husband, the conductor Jean Carmet André Bourdelle, their three grown children—Bernadette, Colette and Guy-Hubert—and André’s father, the affectionate “Gramps” [Michel Galabru]. When the occupiers tighten their grip, André becomes a leading figure in a Resistance cell, but his life is cut short by an accidental grenade explosion, leaving the family to shoulder loss and danger in a world turned upside down.
Two years pass, and their grand Parisian mansion is requisitioned by the Wehrmacht to house General Hermann Spontz [Roland Giraud], who has been moved from the Eastern Front to Paris. The family is pushed into the cellar as Spontz and his officers seize the main rooms, turning the home into a nerve center of occupation while the family presses their complaints to the Kommandantur. The siege of their home is just the opening act of a wider resistance—quiet, stubborn, and stubbornly hopeful.
Inside the Kommandantur, Madame Bourdelle, Bernadette, and Michel Taupin [Christian Clavier], a tenant in the Bourdelle household, stumble upon a chance to aid a British RAF airman named Ralph [Franck-Olivier Bonnet], and they wind up hiding him in the cellar. The flutter of danger meshes with the warmth of small alliances, as the trio balances fear and courage in the face of a hostile regime. Taupin’s attempts to win Bernadette’s affection do not always meet with success, and his persistent desire to join the Resistance leads them into a string of adventures that embed the family deeper into the underground fight.
Imprisoned after the Kommandantur episode, Taupin befriends a resistant named Félix [Jacques François], who believes Taupin is about to be executed. The escape comes at the hands of an elusive vigilante known as “Super-Resistant,” and this strange savior’s involvement tightens the thread between personal peril and collective defiance. Félix, meanwhile, finds that the very figure he trusted is entangled with Taupin’s fate, complicating loyalties and raising the stakes for everyone involved.
The family’s troubles are compounded by Adolfo Ramirez [Gérard Jugnot], a former Paris Opera caretaker turned fierce collaborator who has become a Gestapo agent. Ramirez’s animosity toward the Bourdelles grows as he pursues revenge, but Spontz—a general with a soft spot for Héléna and a protective instinct toward Bernadette—keeps his prey within reach. Ramirez eventually learns a startling truth: Guy-Hubert, the family’s seemingly timid son who works as a hairdresser, is actually Super-Resistant, the mastermind behind Félix and the unseen network. Yet Spontz remains skeptical, unsure whether the brave young man could truly be in control of such a dangerous operation.
A grim diversion comes when Héléna is forced, against her will, to sing at a reception honoring Hitler’s half-brother, Marshal Ludwig von Apfelstrudel [Jacques Villeret] at a castle near Paris. With Taupin’s help, the Resistance plans to plant a bomb in the dining hall. The scheme falters, and just as the Bourdelles and Taupin seem poised for arrest, Super-Resistant strikes. The vigilante’s actions—backed by his loyal men and Gramps—snatch von Apfelstrudel and a roundup of German generals from the jaws of danger, completing a daring rescue that blends personal loyalty with collective resistance.
As the story unfolds, the film reveals itself as a “film within the film.” A contemporary television debate about the occupation era takes center stage, inviting viewers to judge how these events are depicted. The on-screen discussion brings together Bernadette Bourdelle and General Spontz (now married), Guy-Hubert, Adolfo Ramirez Jr. (son of Ramirez, who has come from Bolivia to defend his father’s memory), and Michel Taupin (now Minister of Veterans Affairs). The debate quickly sours into chaos when Ramirez Jr. insults the other protagonists—sparking a brawl on live television that forces the host to cut the transmission.
This layered, meta-narrative blends intimate family drama with high-stakes resistance, using both humor and peril to illuminate a period of history that remains vivid and complex. The Bourdelle family’s resilience—driven by operatic ambition, stubborn love, and a shared devotion to a cause greater than themselves—offers a portrait of courage under occupation, and a reminder that even a single home can become a frontline in a broader struggle for freedom.
