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La chambre des officiers by Marc Dugain


margaretdufay

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I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but there is a wonderful book called "La chambre des officiers" The Officer's Ward by Marc Dugain, written a few years ago and also made into a great film.

It tells of soldiers who had been disfigured during the war and of their treatments in hospital. Men showing wonderful senses of humour despite their disability. I would recommend if possible reading the French version.

I am giving two links that I also found on the net about the book and the film.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Chambre_des_officiers (the book link)

http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=28113.html (film link)

best regards

mags

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not read the book but agree the film is a good one

cheers Martin B

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Thanks very much for the tip - I have ordered it from my library (English version), Hopefully the translated version doesn't stray too far from the original?

Regards,

Dave

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to be honest, I started with the english version and was not very impressed, until I realized that the original was in French, then read the original and thought it was great, if you can also see the film, then it's worth watching as it is very close to the original text. let me know what you think

br

mags

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Mags,

I'm afraid I've given you the wrong impression of my abilities - I do not read or speak French and therefore can only get only a general idea of what is written (with the help of my French/English dictionary and Google translations) so any thoughts I might have would probably be worthless to you! The book does interest me though, how an ex-soldier copes with being crippled or disfigured is a subject that is very rarely written (or even talked) about - especially in the U.S., I can see why the movie wasn't offered to Hollywood.

Regards,

Dave

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there is a wonderful part of the film, where the hero who has a disfigured face is on a train, and sitting opposite him is a young girl who is terrified by his looks, then he starts making funny faces at her, which makes her start to laugh and then in turn she too starts making faces. eventually realizing that there was a person behind the disfigured face, for me one of the best moments of the film

br

mags

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  • 3 weeks later...

Mags,

even better, in my opinion, is at the end of the film, when a woman tells him "Vous n'êtes pas un monstres", - you're not a monster.

noteworthy: the book received the "Prix des Librairies" and "Prix des Deux Magots" in 1999 and the movie 2 "Césars" in 2002.

anyway, both book and film are hightly recommended!!

Marilyne

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  • 6 months later...

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