November Moon
‘November Moon’ is a love story between two women caught up in the chaos and turmoil that war can bring. November, a young Jewish girl, flees Germany for Paris in 1939, where she meets and falls in love with Férial. The film charts the development of their relationship alongside the emergent events of World War II. When the Nazis occupy France their relationship is jeopardised, they have to separate, and with help from the French resistance, November is hidden.
Férial works for the Nazi information department in order to shield her lover from detection. When the Allies liberate France, the women should be safe from persecution. However, the violence of the Nazis is replaced by that of the Resistance who take unrestrained vengeance after the war on those they perceive as collaborators – such as Férial.
Filmed in the style of a war movie, the film is at its best when dealing with the central relationship of the two women, which is never highlighted or lingered on. Rather, it is interwoven into other relationships and events, offering a complex comment on the personal and emotional cost of war.
Description Source: Cinenova Catalogue (1994). Edited by Kate Norrish. Editorial committee: Elaine Burrows, Liane Harris, Helen de Witt