Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Strange Gardens

 Strange Gardens
type
TVTItem
 Strange Gardens
label
Strange Gardens
 Strange Gardens
page
StrangeGardens
 Strange Gardens
comment
Strange Gardens (French: Effroyables Jardins, literally "Frightful Gardens") is a 2003 French film directed and written by Jean Becker, adapting the eponymous novel by Michel Quint.In a 1950s French village, a little boy doesn't understand why his father Jacques Pouzay (Jacques Villeret) puts a clown nose on every year and goes out to entertain the villagers. Jacques' friend André Designy (André Dussollier) tells him the story behind this...Back in 1944, during the German occupation of France, Jacques and André foolishly blew up a railway station to make themselves a name in La Résistance. Germans soldiers soon reacted, by taking several people hostages, including Jacques and André, and threatened to execute them all should the perpetrators not denounce themsemlves. While they were waiting for the execution in a muddy pit in which the German soldiers threw them, Jacques, André and fellow hostage Thierry (Thierry Lhermitte) were surprised when one of the soldiers, Bernd, had genuine sympathy for them and started entertaining them. He was a clown at the Medrano Circus in Paris before the war.
 Strange Gardens
fetched
2024-02-14T05:26:48Z
 Strange Gardens
parsed
2024-02-14T05:26:48Z
 Strange Gardens
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Strange Gardens / int_1f6ec528
type
Would Not Shoot a Civilian
 Strange Gardens / int_1f6ec528
comment
Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Bernd decides to put his rifle down, puts his clown nose on and refuses to shoot the hostages. His officer executes him on the spot with a bullet in the head.
 Strange Gardens / int_1f6ec528
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_1f6ec528
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_1f6ec528
 Strange Gardens / int_3f89452c
type
Sad Clown
 Strange Gardens / int_3f89452c
comment
Sad Clown: Bernd does his best to relieve Jacques, André and Thierry from their anguish with his clown acts as they are waiting for their execution. While himself is not an unhappy man, his fate is pretty tragic in itself. Jacques performs a clown act in memory of Bernd every year.
 Strange Gardens / int_3f89452c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_3f89452c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_3f89452c
 Strange Gardens / int_474e3977
type
You Have Failed Me
 Strange Gardens / int_474e3977
comment
You Have Failed Me: Bernd refuses to shoot at the hostages and puts his clown nose on. His officer shoots him in the head for this.
 Strange Gardens / int_474e3977
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_474e3977
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_474e3977
 Strange Gardens / int_48c99e19
type
Death by Adaptation
 Strange Gardens / int_48c99e19
comment
Death by Adaptation: In the book, Bernd isn't killed.
 Strange Gardens / int_48c99e19
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_48c99e19
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_48c99e19
 Strange Gardens / int_4b39c18
type
Taking the Heat
 Strange Gardens / int_4b39c18
comment
Taking the Heat: The dying station master decides to take the blame for the explosion of the station. Germans take him out of his hospital bed, put him on a chair and shoot him.
 Strange Gardens / int_4b39c18
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_4b39c18
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_4b39c18
 Strange Gardens / int_50b05d30
type
Disproportionate Retribution
 Strange Gardens / int_50b05d30
comment
Disproportionate Retribution: Not knowing who committed the "terrorist" (in their eyes) action, Germans take a few dozens of hostages and threaten to execute them. It was sadly Truth in Television during the Occupation, following actions by the FTP (Francs-Tireurs et Partisans, the French Communist resistance).
 Strange Gardens / int_50b05d30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_50b05d30
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_50b05d30
 Strange Gardens / int_6439de78
type
Heroic Sacrifice
 Strange Gardens / int_6439de78
comment
Heroic Sacrifice: The station master takes the blame for the explosion and gets executed by the Germans as a result. This action saves the life of the hostages.
 Strange Gardens / int_6439de78
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_6439de78
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_6439de78
 Strange Gardens / int_6b1feeeb
type
Pre-War Civilian Career
 Strange Gardens / int_6b1feeeb
comment
Pre-War Civilian Career: Bernd worked as a clown before he was conscripted in the Wehrmacht.
 Strange Gardens / int_6b1feeeb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_6b1feeeb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_6b1feeeb
 Strange Gardens / int_7089d02e
type
All Germans Are Nazis
 Strange Gardens / int_7089d02e
comment
All Germans Are Nazis: No one speaks the trope loud, but Bernd is there to avert it. He used to be a clown before he was drafted in the military and has troubles following orders, particularly when it involves being ruthless against civilians.
 Strange Gardens / int_7089d02e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_7089d02e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_7089d02e
 Strange Gardens / int_8a1cd5de
type
Historical Person Punchline
 Strange Gardens / int_8a1cd5de
comment
Historical Person Punchline: Not in the movie, but in the original novel. Bernd is the future moviemaker Bernhard Wicki, who obviously survives the events of the story in this version.
 Strange Gardens / int_8a1cd5de
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_8a1cd5de
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_8a1cd5de
 Strange Gardens / int_8ae880f7
type
Deconstruction
 Strange Gardens / int_8ae880f7
comment
Deconstruction: The film highlights one of the least glamorous aspects of the actions of La Résistance during World War II, namely Germans taking local people hostages following said actions and executing them when the resistants don't come forward or can't be found.
 Strange Gardens / int_8ae880f7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_8ae880f7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_8ae880f7
 Strange Gardens / int_8d0785d5
type
Didn't Think This Through
 Strange Gardens / int_8d0785d5
comment
Didn't Think This Through: Jacques and André didn't think about the dreadful consequences of their idea to blow up the station, that is Germans practicing Disproportionate Retribution on the population.
 Strange Gardens / int_8d0785d5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_8d0785d5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_8d0785d5
 Strange Gardens / int_8f612013
type
Token Good Teammate
 Strange Gardens / int_8f612013
comment
Token Good Teammate: Bernd is the only German soldier to pity the hostages, and entertains them the best he can. He refuses to shoot them later on, and gets a bullet in the head from his officer as a result.
 Strange Gardens / int_8f612013
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_8f612013
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_8f612013
 Strange Gardens / int_97d54bb0
type
Tragic Keepsake
 Strange Gardens / int_97d54bb0
comment
Tragic Keepsake: The clown nose Jacques kept since the war, to remind himself of the lives his foolish action took in 1944 and to commemorate Bernd's death.
 Strange Gardens / int_97d54bb0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_97d54bb0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_97d54bb0
 Strange Gardens / int_ddb8ba26
type
Shot at Dawn
 Strange Gardens / int_ddb8ba26
comment
Shot at Dawn: German soldiers threaten to execute the hostages should the perpetrator of the explosion not denounce himself. The station master ends up being shot after taking the blame to save the hostages.
 Strange Gardens / int_ddb8ba26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_ddb8ba26
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_ddb8ba26
 Strange Gardens / int_name
type
ItemName
 Strange Gardens / int_name
comment
 Strange Gardens / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Strange Gardens / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Strange Gardens / int_name
 Strange Gardens / int_name
itemName
Strange Gardens

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Clown Media / int_976613bc
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
Pre-War Civilian Career / int_976613bc
 Strange Gardens
hasFeature
The Danza / int_976613bc