"Le Chagrin et la Pitié" stirred a huge controversy in France, as it challenged the national myth, that during the years of German occupation the entire country had been fighting in the Resistence for its national freedom. It had been scheduled as the second of three-part series on contemporary French history. But the ORTF, the state-controlled French television company, refused to air it by the time the film was completed in 1969. Only two years later, in April 1971, the film debuted on French cinemas screens. But then it turned out to be an evergreen: for 87 consecutive weeks it was presented in theaters in Paris. For a decade it was a permanent part of all renown film festivals in Europe and the US.
The profund interviews on location in combination with sparse and ironical usage of original footage influenced a new generation of fimmakers. As late as 1981, ten years after is was first completed Ophuels`film was aired on French television and attracted 15 million spectators.