Based on a novel entitled “Drôle de Guerre,” Un Balcon en Foret is set during the months of October 1939 to May 1940, during which time a young lieutenant is assigned to a command post near a village in the Ardenne Forest at the Belgian border. In his garrison are three other men. Apart from military routine and the ever-present “mission” (to destroy advancing tanks and provide information of any movement), what preoccupies the men is an attempt to find joy under the constant threat of imminent death. They find it in encounters with the villagers, in each other and in the beauty of the forest. But the coming of spring marks the coming of the Germans, and the story ends May 10, 1940, the date of the German offensive into the Ardenne.
Director Michel Mitrani was born in Bulgaria, and studied cinema in France where he has directed numerous documentaries and plays for television, as well as several feature films (including The Night of the Bulgarians and The Mare, 1972, and Black Thursday, 1974).