Chichinette - the Accidental Spy

Description: Marthe Cohn, nicknamed Chichinette, was born in 1920 to an Orthodox Jewish family in Metz, France, close to the German border. During the war she escaped with her family to Marseille. There she and her sister assisted refugees to cross the border to Spain. Her sister was caught and deported to Auschwitz. Marthe’s lover, who intended to convert to Judaism in order to marry her, joined the Resistance, was captured and executed. Blond and blue-eyed, Marthe trained as a nurse and moved to Paris, where she could pass as a gentile. Once the city was liberated, in November 1944, she joined the French army. Entering Nazi Germany through Switzerland, she posed as a German nurse that was searching for her missing fiancée. The intelligence she gathered helped the invading allies and earned her numerous awards after the war.

In the 1950s she met an American medical student, Major L. Cohn and moved to the United States where she continued working as a nurse. It was only well after her retirement that she wrote a book about her exploits and started attending speaking engagements, accompanied by her husband. Much of the film follows them on one of her lecture tours. During this trip they encounter problems with wifi and disappointing views in some of their lodgings. She relates her story against a background of family photographs, contemporary footage of the locations where her adventures occurred and a couple of brief animated sequences.

Merits: The diminutive 98 year old still retains her sense of humour. When asked by a member of the audience at one engagement why there are no monuments to female resistance fighters she quips that there are no monuments to her because she hasn’t died yet. She shares an interesting story but the film would benefit from tighter editing of the tedious travel sequences.

Rating: Suitable for all audiences.

Chichinette - the Accidental Spy

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