Héléna Bourdelle, Jacqueline Maillan, a world‑famous opera singer nicknamed “La Bourdelle,” is married to the maestro André Bourdelle, Jean Carmet. They live in a grand Paris townhouse with their three grown children—Bernadette, Colette and Guy-Hubert—and André’s father, known as “Gramps,” played by Michel Galabru. When Nazi Germany occupies France, André steps into a leadership role within the Resistance, but he dies in an accidental grenade explosion. Two years later, the family’s mansion is requisitioned by the occupying German forces to house Wehrmacht General Hermann Spontz, Roland Giraud, who has been moved from the Eastern Front to Paris. The Germans brutalize the house, forcing the Bourdelles to take shelter in the cellar, while grumbling to the Kommandantur about Spontz’s excesses. Among those coordinating the clandestine effort are Madame Bourdelle, her daughter Bernadette, and Michel Taupin, a resident tenant played by Christian Clavier, who unexpectedly become entangled in a dangerous game of resistance and survival.
In the shadows of this occupation, a British RAF airman is aided by the trio in the cellar; he is eventually hidden from discovery as the resistance networks begin to take shape around them. Taupin pursues Bernadette with persistent charm, even as he has his sights set on joining the Resistance, a path that leads him through a series of comic and perilous episodes. While Taupin’s romantic pursuits complicate things, he also becomes entangled with Felix, a resistant who trusts him with fragile secrets. Felix, for his part, is guided by an elusive vigilante known as Super‑Résistant, the backbone of their underground efforts, and the man behind Felix’s continued freedom. The identity of Super‑Résistant is tied to Guy-Hubert, the family’s seemingly timid and elegant son who, in truth, commands a high‑risk resistance operation, much to the surprise of General Spontz and the rest of the circle; Spontz’s admiration for Helena and his soft spot for Bernadette create a complicated web of loyalties that keeps everyone on edge. Martin Lamotte brings to life this crucial, double‑edged heroism in the guise of Guy‑Hubert, a figure who defies expectations and reshapes how the family fights back.
The pressure intensifies when Adolfo Ramirez, the former Paris Opera caretaker turned collaborationist Gestapo agent, played by Gérard Jugnot, shows up with a relentless hunger for vengeance against the Bourdelles. Ramirez’s revenge plot collides with Spontz’s complicated feelings toward Helena and Bernadette, and the tension between the occupiers and the résistants escalates. The dramatic arc turns on the moment when Ramirez uncovers the truth that Guy‑Hubert is the elusive “Super‑Résistant,” the mastermind behind Felix and a hidden force within the family’s circle; yet Spontz refuses to accept the truth, keeping the threat ever present. The danger culminates as Helena is reluctantly drawn to attend a reception at a castle near Paris in honor of Hitler’s half‑brother, Marshal Ludwig von Apfelstrudel, hosted by the German high command. Jacques Villeret embodies the pomp and menace of von Apfelstrudel, while Taupin, despite his own misgivings, becomes an unlikely ally in the plan to strike at the heart of the German gathering.
The Resistance’s plan is audacious: a bomb planted in the dining room aims to cripple the occupying leadership. The operation initially falters, forcing the Bourdelles and Taupin into a perilous stand against capture. They are saved, in dramatic fashion, by Super‑Resistant and by the steadfast support of Gramps, Michel Galabru. The victor’s arc seems complete, but the film reveals a twist: what the audience has been watching is a “film within the film.” This revelation pivots into a contemporary television debate that reconstructs, interrogates, and reports on occupation experiences. In the studio, the stories of Bernadette Bourdelle and General Spontz (now married), Guy‑Hubert, Ramirez Jr. (son of Ramirez who travels from Bolivia to defend his father’s memory), and Michel Taupin (now serving as Minister of Veterans Affairs) collide on live television. The discussion grows chaotic when Ramirez Jr. insults the other protagonists, and the group turns on him in a brawl that cuts to black, leaving the audience to question what really happened and what the film was trying to say about memory, heroism, and the legacy of resistance.
