Lacombe, Lucien

In June 1944, Lucien Lacombe, a 17-year-old country boy, tries to join the Resistance. The local leader, the village schoolteacher, refuses him on grounds of age. This rejection foreshadows his later moral uncertainty in the occupied countryside.

After cycling back to town, Lucien stumbles upon the hotel that serves as the Carlingue's headquarters and is taken into custody. He is brought inside by the French Gestapo auxiliaries. The encounter marks his first step into the collaborators’ world.

Under the influence of alcohol, Lucien betrays the village schoolteacher who had rejected him. The teacher is brought in and tortured as a warning to others who might resist the Carlingue. The act solidifies Lucien's uneasy alliance with his new employers.

Seeing potential in his raw energy, the Carlingue recruit Lucien into their lawless regime. He quickly grows to enjoy the power and protection that come with his new position. The thrill of control begins to corrupt him.

Lucien becomes protective of those targeted by the regime and falls in love with France Horn, a Jewish girl living in seclusion with her father Albert and grandmother Bella. Their differing backgrounds highlight his moral drift under occupation.

He is warned that the Allies are winning and that as a collaborator he could be killed. The warning intensifies the fear and pressure surrounding his actions. The sense of impending retribution shadows his days.

Albert Horn goes to Carlingue headquarters to discuss his daughter's relationship with Lucien. Instead of a calm talk, Albert is taken into custody and turned over to the Germans. The confrontation deepens the personal stakes for the Horn family.

Members of the Resistance attack the hotel, triggering a brutal retreat. In retaliation, the inhabitants of the town are rounded up. The violence underscores the perilous lines Lucien walks between collaborator and protector.

Lucien and a German soldier detain France Horn and Bella. In that moment of tension, Lucien's loyalties waver, and he decides to kill the German soldier to shield the women. The act marks a significant moral escalation in his character.

The trio escapes by car toward Spain, hoping to reach neutral territory. The car breaks down along the way, forcing them to improvise a new plan. The breakdown intensifies their vulnerability and dependence on each other.

With the car out of service, they continue on foot and find shelter in a secluded, abandoned farmhouse. The shelter provides a temporary refuge from pursuit, but also signals a collapse of their earlier power dynamic. The trio’s bond is tested under strain.

An epilogue states that Lucien Lacombe was arrested on October 12, 1944, tried and condemned to death by a military tribunal of the Resistance, and executed. The ending confirms the personal and political costs of collaboration. Lucien’s arc closes with a stark retribution for his choices.