De Gaulle: what age is it for?
In France, zinema would say 8.
Alone, or with you
Alone from 10; from 9, with an adult or by talking about it afterwards.
What it's about
Paris, June 1940. The de Gaulle couple is confronted with the military and political collapse of France. Charles de Gaulle joins London while Yvonne, his wife, finds herself with her three children on the road of the exodus.
Why 10
- War talked about, gravelyDeath runs all through the conversations: a massacre, bodies, men who will not come home. It is spoken rather than shown, but the weight is real, and a child needs to know these are actual events, not a story someone invented.shown
- Gunfire, fire and fleeing crowdsBombed roads, flames, people scattering, weapons carried and pointed, shots heard off screen. Nothing lingers on wounds, but the sense of a country collapsing is vivid, especially in the exodus scenes with the children.shown
- Frightened faces, dark nightsLong stretches of near darkness, faces crying out in panic, a child alone in the shadows, families cut apart by the road. Around the halfway mark and again late in the film, the fear is on people's faces more than in any effect.shown
- Cigarettes and wine at the tableThe period look comes with smoking in several scenes and wine poured during a dinner sequence. It is ordinary 1940s life rather than anything glamorized, worth a word if your child is at the age of noticing.shown
- A lot of talking, and history assumedThe film moves fast and is dense with dialogue about ministers, armistice and command decisions. Younger viewers can follow the family thread easily but will lose the political one without a little help.shown
What the movie brings
- A close look at a moment when one person's refusal to give up changed the course of a country.
- The war seen from a family as much as from a general: a wife, children, an exodus on foot.
- A good doorway into questions about courage, exile and what resistance actually costs.
Watching it together
Before you start, say plainly that this really happened in 1940, and that the family on the road is the same family as the man on the radio.
at 10 and up
Charles de Gaulle disagreed with almost everyone around him. What made him so sure he was right, and how do you know when it is worth standing alone?
See the facts
A zinema reading from September 8, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made