Weekend at Dunkirk is a French film directed by Henri Verneuil. It is based on a book by Robert Merle and stared Jean-Paul Belmondo. Merle was born in Tébessa, then part of French Algeria, in 1908. His father Felix was killed during the ill-fated campaign of the Dardanelles (Gallipoli) in 1916. The young Merle and his mother later moved to Paris , where Merle would go on to study at the Sorbonne.
Merle's academic career would eventually see him become a professor of English Literature, a post he held at several universities. When war broke out in 1939, Merle was recalled to the Army (where he had completed his earlier national service) and due to his academic background, was assigned to the BEF as an interpreter.
As France collapsed in 1940 under the weight of the Blitzkrieg assault, he soon found himself, like so many others, with his back to sea during the latter stages of the debacle which we now know as the events of Dunkirk. Stuck on the beach at Zuydcoote, which he would later describe as a 'blind and abominable lottery' he was captured by the Germans and held as a POW at Stalag VID in Dortmund, from which he escaped, only to be recaptured at the Belgian frontier. He was repatriated in 1943. After the war he received the Croix du Combattant.
Merle's academic career would eventually see him become a professor of English Literature, a post he held at several universities. When war broke out in 1939, Merle was recalled to the Army (where he had completed his earlier national service) and due to his academic background, was assigned to the BEF as an interpreter.
As France collapsed in 1940 under the weight of the Blitzkrieg assault, he soon found himself, like so many others, with his back to sea during the latter stages of the debacle which we now know as the events of Dunkirk. Stuck on the beach at Zuydcoote, which he would later describe as a 'blind and abominable lottery' he was captured by the Germans and held as a POW at Stalag VID in Dortmund, from which he escaped, only to be recaptured at the Belgian frontier. He was repatriated in 1943. After the war he received the Croix du Combattant.
In 1949, Merle published Week-end a Zuydcoote, based on his experiences of 1940. It was critically accepted and went on to win the coveted Prix Goncourt. In 1964, it was adapted for the big screen and released as Weekend at Dunkirk; a box office smash, it was the making of both the director and its star.
Merle was married three times, had six children (four sons and two daughters) and died in 2004 in Montfort-l'Amaury, a south-western suburb of metropolitan Paris , aged 95, of a heart attack.
Shown here is an original poster from the film.
Back