Un village français
French television series
Un village français (A French Village) is a French television drama series created by chief writer Frédéric Krivine and principal director Philippe Triboit, with the assistance of historical consultant Jean-Pierre Azéma. It is set in Villeneuve, a fictional commune in the Jura in German-occupied France during the Second World War, and represents, according to the New York Times, "the first major French television series seriously to address collaboration during the Nazi occupation in World War II."
The series was first broadcast on France 3 in June 2009, and has also been shown in Belgium, Switzerland and Canada on TV5 Monde and on MBC in South Korea. In the USA it has been shown on the French language entertainment network TV5MONDE, the MHz Choice streaming service (through Amazon Prime) and Hulu, or for free on some PBS stations. As of February 2025, the series is streaming in the United Kingdom on ITVX under the title The Line.
Synopsis
In June 1940, German military forces invade the fictional village of Villeneuve, near the French-Swiss border in the department (province) of Jura, France. The village is put into disarray by the occupying German military, which quickly takes control of all aspects of Villeneuve life, including the subjugation of the local government and police. During the invasion, many residents are either killed or wounded, but the survivors attempt to rebuild from the carnage and try to make sense of the German occupation and the new order that has descended upon their village.
Over the course of the series, viewers witness the evolution of main characters and a variety of minor and recurring characters, as they resist, adapt or collaborate to varying degrees with the occupying German forces with a strong Gestapo presence. The series also presents the perspective of an SS officer, Heinrich Müller, a German who investigates acts of resistance and helps to administer and enforce German rule in the village, as the series's main antagonist.
Stories are set almost exclusively in and around Villeneuve at locations like the school, private residences, police headquarters, German military and SS headquarters, brothel, government offices, local businesses, and surrounding farms and countryside.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Un village français” as french television series. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as french television series. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3549122. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009, 2025 and 1940.
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This entry incorporates text from “Un village français” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.