Article #5398

Xavier Giannoli says criticism that Les Rayons et les Ombres invites sympathy for characters is ‘profoundly dishonest’

The director of a box office hit film about Nazi collaboration and its Oscar-winning star have described criticisms they have whitewashed wartime atrocities as dishonest and “a scandal”.

Xavier Giannoli and the actor Jean Dujardin were responding to a bitter row that has divided French historians over the film Les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays and Shadows), which recounts the story of the wartime press baron Jean Luchaire.