Female Agents (Les femmes de l'ombre)

April 1944 bourg-en-bresse station, France.

Search the warehouses!

Spotlight!

Bring him here!

I'll deal with him.

A sniper! That window up there!

Female agents

in 1940, Winston Churchill created a new kind of secret service,

the special operations executive, better known as the soe.

One section was responsible for overseeing operations in France.

In 1941, a new head was appointed, colonel Maurice buckmaster.

In 1944, the soe's "French section"

was dedicated, at a heavy human cost,

to ensuring the success of d-day.

Saturday 27th may, 1944 tempsford airfield, england.

I heard about your husband.

I'm sorry.

Claude was shot 40 days ago. I intend to fight on.

With or without your blessing.

How did you find me, Louise?

A liaison officer told me he'd trained with a desfontaines in London.

I thought nothing of it.

I was sure you'd given up.

That I was like father...

Saying, "the war's over, let's just capitulate."

And blindly follow pétain? Yes.

I was sure of it.

That you'd bailed.

Actually, by going to London,

you found the best way to fight on

and get away from Claude and I.

I never got what you saw in him.

Not to mention he was a communist.

Soe hq, London colonel buckmaster's section

how long did you work as a nurse in bourg-en-bresse?

I never really stopped.

Would you care to go back to it?

I'm not here to heal casualties.

You'd be evacuating one. From a German hospital in normandy.

A German casualty?

A brit disguised as one, actually.

What is this madness?

Probably what the poor fellow said when he saw what had happened.

"The" poor fellow' is a geologist.

On a mission for us,

he was spotted by a German in normandy.

Our man shot him and stole his uniform.

- That's pretty cheeky. - Stupid, you mean.

He was in lisieux when the royal air force bombed it.

So he became a German casualty.

And was sent to a wehrmacht hospital in pont-i'evéque.

Why was he in normandy?

That's just what the Nazis must never find out.

You think I can get him out all on my own,

dressed as a nurse?

Not all on your own.

There'll be five of you.

Five women under Pierre's command.

Your brother devised the whole mission.

We already have one agent in place.

An Italian from Milan's Jewish aristocracy.

How are you?

Her codename is Maria. She'll liaise with you.

She's already made contact with the geologist.

To complete the unit, here are some potential recruits.

Some have already done a commando course.

How long do we have to train?

A one-day refresher course, then you fly straight out.

That's insane!

Have you heard of colonel heindrich?

No.

He was with the abwehr, counter-espionage,

and he just joined the ss's intelligence unit.

He must be on the geologist's tail.

These were taken by one of our spies on the english coast.

What are those strange objects in the harbour, colonel?

They look like floating grain silos.

Grain silos protected by ack-ack guns?

I believe these blocks play a role in landing the enemy's invasion forces.

Colonel heindrich,

why have we concentrated the majority of our units around calais?

The allied fleet can unload troops and equipment faster in an existing port.

And don't forget,

it's the shortest route between the english and French coasts.

I'm sorry to insist, field marshal,

but what if it's all a diversion?

What if the landings took place somewhere else?

Such as, colonel?

Across from southampton, in normandy,

on one of the beaches.

Where we spotted an english geologist.

Compass, readings, samples... In his panic, he left all this behind.

I'm sure he hasn't made it back to england yet.

The thing about you ss people

that most amuses me is that you never have any doubts.

Colonel, do you seriously believe

I will move all my panzer divisions because of a phantom geologist?

Colonel, if I may say so,

you see the world with different eyes.

The field marshal's prussian.

As far as I know, we're not fighting prussia.

Talk to someone who has access to the fiihrer.

Who? Rommel?

He'd listen to you.

He could get you a hearing in Berlin.

First, let's find the english geologist.

Without him, I've no hope.

Sunday 28th may, 1944 holloway prison, London

a stay of execution by order of the lord chancellor.

It's not a mistake? I killed a man, remember.

Your pimp? I don't call that a man.

Nobody forced me into anything.

Stop being silly. If not for us, you'd have been hanged.

That's your only alternative to our proposition.

I knew there'd be a catch. What is this?

We need you for a mission in France.

Who do I have to fuck? Pétain?

We are reliably informed that you used to perform nude in soho.

You need a girl who'll get her leg over, so here I am?

You must be desperate.

We also need a girl who can kill.

What do I get out of all this?

What are you thinking?

That you can refuse?

I'm not the type who works for nothing. Thanks anyway.

You'll die like a whore who never had a chance.

Is that what you want?

If the mission's a success, you'll be pardoned.

I'm sure she's the right choice.

We can't trust her, she's a nutcase.

A rope round her neck and she said no. That takes a hell of a nerve.

When the next one finally arrives, let me do the talking.

What are you doing?

I'd hate to cramp your style.

I'm gaélle lemenech. We have an appointment?

I'm Louise. Please, sit down.

Sorry I'm late. The general often keeps us back.

Hello, hoe.

Hi, pick.

- Still owe me a drink. - Tomorrow?

"Hoe"?

Yes, it's a tradition in our unit.

They give us the names of tools.

They wanted to call me saw but I refused.

"Eye-saw!" you see my point, don't you?

Besides explosives, what do you do for de gaulle?

Do you ever go on missions?

Never. It's my only regret.

Thanks.

Making bombs without blowing them up is frustrating.

You can vent your frustrations with me in France.

Sorry, but I can't.

I work for de gaulle, not Churchill.

If you don't mind me saying, you're in with that officer.

Sorry?

The lieutenant. He can't take his eyes off you.

If I were you, I wouldn't think twice.

Who knows? Tomorrow, we may be dead.

You realise what you're asking?

Explosives expert and trained commando. If you can do better...

It's humiliating.

You weren't always so picky.

- Well? - She'll do it.

Was it hard?

The scouts, the cancelled wedding, the fiancé sent to work in Germany...

Listening to that all night was tough, yes.

Is it true the gestapo tortured you last year?

Yes.

Why go back?

What are you trying to prove?

I'm not trying to prove anything.

Monday 29th may, 1944 fany hq, London.

You're sure it's for me?

Who told you I love Paris-brests?

We talked to your parents in orléans.

Apparently, they bake wonderful cakes.

Their only daughter runs off to Paris. That must really hurt.

Especially when she flees to London under an assumed identity.

Mademoiselle Suzy despres.

Very pretty, liliane.

I wonder if that doesn't suit you more.

We know you were the mistress of a Nazi officer

when you danced at the folies-bergéres in Paris.

And here we have the banns for a wedding...

Due to take place on 14th October, '41,

at the church of Saint-germain-des-prés.

Curiously, the ceremony never took place.

Why?

Stand up. Remove that uniform.

You're unworthy of it.

Leave this one to me.

Why not come for me before, if you knew?

Because we need you now.

For my secretarial skills?

No, dancing back home. For a good cause.

I'll never go back to France.

It's that or a court martial. Choose!

I put my past behind me. I broke off the engagement.

If you want to put it behind you, I have the solution.

Tuesday 30th may, 1944 tempsford airfield.