Past Film/Video | Classics

Army of Shadows

(L’armée des ombres, Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)

New Restoration

Info & Tickets

A man is tied to a chair in the middle of a large room. There is a desk in front of him and two photos of military officers on the otherwise empty walls.

Nov 21, 2024–Nov 22, 2024

Thu, Nov 21, 7:00 PM
Fri, Nov 22, 7:00 PM

Film/Video Theater

$8 members and adults 55 and over
$10 general public
$5 students

ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please email accessibility@wexarts.org or call (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

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Not released in the US until 2006, Army of Shadows has since become a modern classic and one of the defining films about the French Resistance.

The great French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville is best known for such sharply conceived crime thrillers as Le samouraï (1967) and Le cercle rouge (1970), but Army of Shadows has arguably become his most highly acclaimed film. Based on the novel by Joseph Kessel, the drama is a captivatingly grim account of the experiences of a small band of French Resistance fighters working against the Nazi troops occupying France. They try to evade capture and the fate that awaits them if caught while also struggling with their own codes of honor. Channeling the exquisite minimalism of Melville’s gangster films, Army of Shadows is an unsparing tale of defiance, and this new restoration makes for essential viewing. In French with English subtitles. (145 mins., 4K DCP)

IMAGE CAPTION
Army of Shadows, courtesy of Rialto Pictures and StudioCanal.

"Dark as pitch and utterly without compromise."

Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Review: “‘Army of Shadows’ Takes a Hard Look at a Horrible and Marvelous Time,” —Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Tag(s)

Film/Video

Scanned in 4K from the original negative by L'Image Retrouvée, supervised by Studiocanal’s Sophie Boyer and Jean-Pierre Boiget. With the funding support of CNC.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
National Endowment for the Arts
Ohio Humanities

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council 
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services 
Mellon Foundation
Every Page Foundation
Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts
CampusParc
Nationwide Foundation
Lois S. and H. Roy Chope Fund of The Columbus Foundation
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme
The Columbus Foundation
Axium Packaging

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Ohio State Energy Partners
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
David Crane and Elizabeth Dang
Melissa Gilliam and William Grobman
Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle