In a Paris elevator, filmmaker Julie Perron met an 89-year-old young lady who charmed her to the point where Perron had to capture her on film. This grandmother’s bold gaze belies an unexpected history, revealed through a series of meetings with the filmmaker. “The moments that change our lives are often the most improbable ones”, the filmmaker shares with us in the early moments of her documentary, as she discovers that her subject is no other than Lucie Aubrac, celebrated heroine of the French resistance. Known for her anti-fascist activism, she is especially famous for having liberated her husband Raymond and a dozen other resisters who had been captured by Klaus Barbie’s Gestapo: a pregnant Lucie led an armed assault on a transport van en route to the prison, freeing the captives.


Beyond these acts of bravery performed by a historical figure and larger-than-life feminist role model, Perron invites us to discover a woman who tells her story with frank simplicity, from memories of her childhood to her 60-year romance with Raymond. The stories that structure the film, punctuated with archival footage, describe powerful and upsetting moments, such as when Lucie breastfed a starving infant whose parents had just been deported to Nazi camps. With this magnificent and deeply moving film, Perron builds a complex and nuanced portrait of a celebrated figure of the French resistance. Lucie, Timeless Fighter also resonates with Lucie Aubrac’s voice, urging us to fight against injustice at all times, wherever it may be found and whoever may be its target.

Pascale Ferland
Filmmaker, teacher and programmer