Effroyables jardins

Each Sunday, Jacques, a primary school teacher, does an amateur clown show at the village fair, to the horror of his 14-year-old son, Lucien. But one day, André, Jacques’ best friend, takes the boy aside to reveal the secret behind his father’s hobby.

He tells him that at the end of the Second World War, he and Jacques committed an act of resistance to impress a girl with whom they were smitten. As a result, they were captured by the Germans with two other unlucky companions. Thrown in a pit while waiting to be shot, the four men received a big lesson in humanity.

Through André’s account, Lucien discovers a side to his father that he’s never seen.