De Gaulle, lost battle at the box office

Touted as the definitive portrait of De Gaulle's life and conceived as a sweeping French blockbuster, the film is already struggling at the box office, after one week in the French theaters. 

With an estimated budget of 75 million euros for two parts, Antonin Baudry’s two-part film was intended to be the quintessential French historical blockbuster, capable of uniting the general public, film buffs, and national heritage. But in the end, The Battle of Gaulle – The Iron Age drew only about 383,000 admissions in its first week, despite a massive release of approximately 560 prints. A launch deemed a "major disappointment" by the film press, falling far short of the expectations created by its event-driven marketing and the General’s aura.

The setback is all the more striking given that the film only reached second place at the box office, trailing behind the new Scary Movie, despite being shown in fewer theaters. The reality is harsh: even if the film performs well over the long term, final estimates suggest just under a million admissions—a figure insufficient to recoup such a large investment (between 70 and 75 million).

In terms of content, the two-part film chronicles the entire journey of the leader of Free France: The Iron Age follows the collapse of 1940, the June 18 appeal, and the years of wandering in the London wilderness, when De Gaulle struggled to survive in the face of Pétain, Churchill, and Roosevelt. I Write Your Name, meanwhile, broadens the scope to include the major figures of the Resistance and the decisive campaigns, from Africa to the landings, through to the Liberation and the birth of the Gaullist myth.

Originally conceived as a two-part film series, with a one-month gap between the two installments, the plan was urgently revised: the second part will ultimately be released a week earlier, on June 26, to capitalize at all costs on the Fête du cinéma. This tightening of the schedule feels less like a strategy and more like a last stand or a rescue plan.

A symbol of an ambitious historical film that struggles to become truly popular, *The Battle of De Gaulle* also reveals the limits of the equation“great national figure + massive budget = guaranteed hit.” Proof that, even surrounded by legend, De Gaulle is no longer enough to draw crowds to the theaters.