Family Secret Inspired Post-War Film

During World War II, Katell Quillévéré's grandmother began a taboo relationship with a German soldier – and became pregnant. Like many other French women in a similar situation, she was ostracized at the end of the war.

The family secret sparked a flame within Quillévéré, and became the starting point for the work on "Time to Love".

But then it's all fiction, says Katell Quillévéré when TT meets her.

Thorough research

The film is about Madeleine, who flees persecution together with her son and gets a job at a seaside resort. She falls in love with the refined guest Francois, who also turns out to be carrying a secret. "Time to Love" deals with taboos, complicated family relationships, but also homosexuality and polyamorous relationships.

I wanted to show how these women were treated after the war, says Katell Quillévéré, and continues:

Very few films have been made about the subject. The only ones I can think of are the Italian "Malena" and "Hiroshima – My Love". Some books have been written, there are podcasts that take up the subject, but there are few films, she says.

Quillévéré did thorough research before writing the script, and says it felt like a duty to treat these people from a bygone era correctly.

There were different laws. How were the women treated? How were the children treated? It was fascinating to go through the archives, not just here in France but also in the USA and England.

New project: Greenpeace

The film takes place over many years, which made it expensive. There were several time periods that had to be depicted.

It was a challenge, but it was also about depicting these periods in a way that held up a mirror to our present time, she says.

Katell Quillévéré describes her film as "mid-budget", which made it tougher to finance. Producers would rather fund either very expensive or very cheap films, she thinks. The next project is expected to have an even bigger budget: a depiction of how the organization Greenpeace started.