Film Analysis: The Return Of Martin Guerre

The story of Martin Guerre has traversed centuries and borders. The Return of Martin Guerre (Daniel Vigne, 1982) is an adaptation of a true story of a southern sixteenth-century French village. This film has received attention from historical scholars, mainly because a well-established historian, Natalie Zemon Davis, was a “conseiller historique for the film” (Benson 49). Davis also generated her own academic history of the story after her experience as a consultant. She claims the film had given little consideration to historical facts that she supplied. She felt obligated to examine the case in detail and generate an academically acceptable version of the story. She asserts that this was the case since the film “generating not proofs, …show more content…
This is generally the most unclear part of the film’s narrative. It is hard to believe that Bertrande could live with a man she had no idea was not her true husband for three years. The fact that only the wife who could identify the touch of the husband makes Bertrande’s position even more complicated (Davis 44). It is also hard to prove this position as what she was going through at that moment. It is probable that a woman in her condition could take advantage of living with a man out of necessity while knowing the truth. Indeed, she may have intended to simply wait until he was exposed by someone else. The fact still remains that the truth of this situation will never be known, but it is challenging to imagine Bertrande going against her religion, the village, the courts and even her own family to become a co-conspirator with the imposter. When the real Martin returns, Bertrande identifies him as such immediately and in front of the …show more content…
Most of these suggestions were crucial to a successful portrayal of the story. In addition, the film completely ignored the presence of Protestant Reformers at that time, a major historical development during Martin’s trial. This is a movement one cannot ignore if looking into the history of the time and place the story is set. Davis asserts that “it is possible, even probable, that the new Martin and Bertrande De Rols were becoming more interested in the new religion” (48). Such new religion would allow the wife of a long missing husband to marry another man. In the monograph, it was clear that the imposter’s fate was influenced by the judge’s involvement in the religious reforms of the time, while the film fails totally to provide this information, for it would become a reasonable justification for the imposter and the wife for their