The Statement (2003) on Netflix
Pierre Brossard, an escaped Nazi collaborator, lives under the protection of Traditionalist Catholic allies in southern France. Judge Annemarie Livi and Colonel Roux reopen the case against him.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.2/105,865 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes24%
Trailer
Plot summary
Pierre Brossard, a French Nazi collaborator, orders the execution of seven Jews during World War II. Some four decades later he is an old man taking refuge in sanctuaries in southern France, where Traditionalist Catholic allies who have shielded him in great secrecy supply him with funds. A hitman under orders to kill him and leave a printed statement claiming vengeance for the 1944 executions is on his trail. Local police take an interest, and the persistent Investigating Judge Annemarie Livi becomes absorbed by the case, undiscouraged by the lack of assistance she meets from official quarters. She allies with Colonel Roux, a senior Gendarmerie investigator.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Statement (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film is inspired by Paul Touvier, a Vichy French police official who ordered the execution of seven Jews in retaliation for the French Resistance's killing of Vichy minister Philippe Henriot. He escaped trial for decades with the help of senior Roman Catholic priests and was arrested in 1989 in a Traditionalist Catholic priory in Nice, then convicted in 1994.
- Paul Touvier received a controversial pardon from French President Georges Pompidou in 1971 but remained on the run. He was finally arrested in 1989 on a crimes against humanity charge, convicted, sentenced to life and died in jail in 1996, aged 81.
- The Statement was the last film by Norman Jewison; the director retired after making it and died in 2024.
- The Statement gave Alan Bates his final theatrical role, and the actor died in the year the film was released.
