Set in World War 2 France during the early months of the German Occupation, Emmanuel Marre’s Cannes-winning screenplay grapples with the personal and the political at a moment of profound national upheaval. Anchored by Swann Arlaud’s gripping central performance, A Man of His Time is a sly, unsettling meditation on power and opportunism.
2026
A Man of His Time
2026
A Man of His Time
Director
Emmanuel Marre
Runtime
158 Minutes
Country
Belgium, France
Classification
Unclassified 15+
France. September 1940. As Marshal Pétain's collaborationist government establishes itself in Vichy, Henri Marre, a 49-year-old engineer, arrives in the city carrying copies of his self-published political manifesto, Notre Salut (‘Our Salvation’). Convinced that his ideas and administrative skills can help rebuild France after its military defeat, he seeks a position within the new regime. The film is loosely based on the director’s own family history - Henri was writer-director Emmanuel Marre’s great-grandfather. Wartime letters exchanged between Henri and his wife Paulette (Sandrine Blancke) inform the script. Stylistically, the film blends jittery handheld cinematography, austere visual framing and anachronistic 1980s needle drops. These tonally destabilising choices only add to the film’s jarring, unsettling feel. The Cannes-winning screenplay grapples with the personal and the political at a moment of profound national upheaval. Anchored by Swann Arlaud’s gripping central performance as a man whose long-held convictions begin to unravel, A Man of His Time is a sly meditation on power and opportunism.
“Arlaud gives an excellent performance as an intelligent, talented man who almost, but not quite, realises the terrible swamp into which he has descended.”
The Guardian
“With its unsensational, dispassionate account of what Henri is prepared to do in the name of efficiency and self-preservation, the film touches on the same ‘banality of evil’ themes as Jonathan Glazer’s Zone Of Interest.”
Screen Daily
“A Man of His Time is an alert work whose skewering of placating middlemen is especially urgent right now.”
RogerEbert.com
Cannes - Best Screenplay
Film Credits
Director
Emmanuel Marre
Year
2026
Country
Belgium & France
Language
French
Subtitles
English
Type
Feature Fiction
Program Strand
World Cinema
Producer
Alexandre Perrier, François Pierre Clavel & Sébastien Andres & Alice Lemaire
Writer
Emmanuel Marre
Cinematographer
Olivier Boonjing
Editor
Nicolas Rumpl
Cast
Mathieu Perotto, Sandrine Blancke & Swann Arlaud
Film Source
Charades
Genre
Drama, History, Politics & War
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