{ "id": "epxx4kx7j1", "slug": "belle-et-sebastien", "title": "Belle et Sébastien", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.adventure-films", "label": "Adventure films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.adventure-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.adventure-films.yr-2005-2026", "label": "Released 2005 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.adventure-films.yr-2005-2026" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020: Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Belle et Sébastien is a 2013 French family adventure film directed by Nicolas Vanier, about a boy in the Second World War-era French Alps who tames a large white dog, Belle.", "snippet": "Belle et Sébastien is a 2013 French family adventure film directed by Nicolas Vanier, about a boy in the Second World War-era French Alps who tames a large white dog, Belle.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.adventure-films.yr-2005-2026", "markdown": "# Belle et Sébastien\n\n*Belle et Sébastien* is a 2013 French family adventure film directed by Nicolas Vanier, adapted from the 1965 children's television series of the same name created by Cécile Aubry, about a lonely boy in the Second World War-era French Alps who tames a large white dog named Belle.[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/133847) • [2](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/belle-et-sebastien/-36103/) Produced by Radar Films and Epithète Films in coproduction with Gaumont, M6 Films, and the Centre Européen Cinématographique Rhône-Alpes, it stars Félix Bossuet, Tchéky Karyo, Margaux Chatelier, Dimitri Storoge, Andreas Pietschmann, Urbain Cancelier, and Mehdi El Glaoui, and was released in France on 18 December 2013.[3](https://www.gaumont.com/fr/film/belle-et-sebastien)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 18 December 2013 in France; CNC visa 133847 issued 31 October 2013; rated \"Tous publics\" (all audiences)[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/133847) |\n| Runtime | 99 minutes per the CNC visa record; Gaumont and the César Academy list 98 minutes[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/133847) • [2](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/belle-et-sebastien/-36103/) |\n| Director and writers | Nicolas Vanier; screenplay by Vanier, Juliette Sales, and Fabien Suarez, from Cécile Aubry's series[3](https://www.gaumont.com/fr/film/belle-et-sebastien) |\n| Music | Original score by Armand Amar, with Zaz re-recording the series titles \"Belle\" and \"L'oiseau\"[4](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html) |\n| French admissions | 3,005,484 over 12 weeks in French theaters (18 December 2013 to 11 March 2014)[4](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html) |\n| Worldwide box office | $27,042,499, against a reported production budget of $11,400,000[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Belle-et-Sebastien-%282013-France%29) |\n| Sequel | *Belle et Sébastien: l'aventure continue*, directed by Christian Duguay, released in France on 9 December 2015[6](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/140077) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in 1943 in a village in the [French Alps](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-alps), in occupied France near the Swiss border.[7](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/belle-et-sebastien-383512/) Sébastien, a young orphan, lives with César, the old shepherd who took him in after his mother abandoned him.[7](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/belle-et-sebastien-383512/) When villagers hunt the large animal they believe has been killing their sheep, Sébastien encounters the great white dog, tames her, and names her Belle; he must protect her after she is wounded in the villagers' hunt.[7](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/belle-et-sebastien-383512/) German soldiers then install themselves in the village to watch the mountain passes used by clandestine refugees crossing into Switzerland, and the boy and his dog help French resistance fighters elude a Nazi plan to capture them.[7](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/belle-et-sebastien-383512/) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/belle_and_sebastian) The narrative also follows an old man looking for his past, a Resistance member looking for love, a young woman seeking adventure, and a German lieutenant seeking forgiveness.[3](https://www.gaumont.com/fr/film/belle-et-sebastien)\n\n### Sequels and franchise\n\nThe film launched a franchise. The first sequel, *Belle et Sébastien: l'aventure continue*, directed by Christian Duguay, received its CNC visa on 18 November 2015 and reached French theaters on 9 December 2015, with a runtime of 97 minutes, again rated for all audiences and distributed by Gaumont.[6](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/140077) A third film completed the trilogy, released on home video as *Belle et Sébastien: la trilogie* by the [Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://www.edgepedia.org/bibliotheque-nationale-de-france)'s catalog.[15](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb455454485) The film's worldwide home-video release in English-speaking markets came from Film Movement Video on 31 March 2015 under the title *Belle and Sebastian*.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Belle-et-Sebastien-%282013-France%29)\n\n## Origins and adaptation\n\nThe film adapts the television series *Belle et Sébastien*, written and directed by the French actress and author Cécile Aubry, who first told the story as a novel and then starred her son, Mehdi El Glaoui, in the series, which ran from 1965 to 1970 and was dubbed into English for the BBC under the title *Belle and Sebastian*.[9](https://tjff.com/media/Belle%20et%20Seebastien%20study%20guidea%20%282%29.pdf) The serial spawned two further thirteen-part color sequels, *Sébastien parmi les hommes* (1968), retitled *Belle, Sebastian and the Horses* by the BBC, and *Sébastien et la Mary-Morgane* (1970), which the BBC did not broadcast.[9](https://tjff.com/media/Belle%20et%20Seebastien%20study%20guidea%20%282%29.pdf) The British series's popularity later inspired the Scottish indie band of the same name.[9](https://tjff.com/media/Belle%20et%20Seebastien%20study%20guidea%20%282%29.pdf)\n\nIn 1981 a 52-episode animated version, *Meiken Jolie*, appeared on French, Italian, and Japanese television, with the American cable network [Nickelodeon](https://www.edgepedia.org/nickelodeon) picking it up in 1984.[9](https://tjff.com/media/Belle%20et%20Seebastien%20study%20guidea%20%282%29.pdf) The 2013 film was therefore not the first adaptation of Aubry's story; the Japanese broadcaster NHK had drawn on her six-volume novel series decades earlier.[10](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D208626.html)\n\n**A link across fifty years.** Mehdi El Glaoui, the child actor who played Sébastien in the original 1965 series, appears in the 2013 film as André, leaving the part of Sébastien to the younger Félix Bossuet.[10](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D208626.html) For the 2013 adaptation, Vanier moved the time frame to a Second World War setting.[9](https://tjff.com/media/Belle%20et%20Seebastien%20study%20guidea%20%282%29.pdf)\n\n## Production and music\n\nUnifrance records the film as a 100 percent French production with a production year of 2012, shot in French in Scope format with Dolby SRD sound.[11](https://www.unifrance.org/film/34274/belle-et-sebastien) Eric Guichard was the cinematographer and Armand Amar composed the score.[2](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/belle-et-sebastien/-36103/) Amar also rearranged the two signature titles of the original series, \"Belle\" (from *Belle et Sébastien*) and \"L'oiseau\" (from *Sébastien parmi les hommes*), which the singer Zaz performed; one appears over the end credits and the other during a mountain play scene, and the young Félix Bossuet sings \"Belle\" in the film itself after Sébastien names the dog.[4](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html) One of the dogs that played Belle, Fripon, was an Italian patou, a breed of mountain sheepdog.[12](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/versions-etrangeres.html)\n\n## Box office\n\nThe film opened strongly in the French holiday season: its first full week drew 683,604 admissions, the second week 854,924, and the third 591,147, for a cumulative 2,129,675 by 7 January 2014.[4](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html) The fan-maintained reference site totals 3,005,484 French admissions over twelve weeks, ranking the film twelfth at the French box office for 2013, while AlloCiné lists a French total of 2,869,466 admissions; the two figures differ by the counting window used.[4](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html) • [10](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D208626.html) Internationally, the film sold 4,544,610 tickets in nine countries, including 1,174,235 in Italy, where it was a major success after a world premiere presentation at the Rome Film Festival in 2013.[4](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html) • [12](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/versions-etrangeres.html)\n\nIn dollar terms, The Numbers records a worldwide total of $27,042,499, with France at $12,581,443, against a production budget of $11,400,000, so the worldwide gross ran about 2.4 times the budget.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Belle-et-Sebastien-%282013-France%29) Its release spread through 2014 and beyond: Belgium, Switzerland, and France on 18 December 2013, Germany and Hungary the next day, Italy on 23 January 2014, and the United Kingdom on 7 November 2014; the film also reached Russia (CIS) only in 2018.[13](https://cineuropa.org/film/248417/) • [5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Belle-et-Sebastien-%282013-France%29)\n\n## Reception\n\nOn Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 91 percent Tomatometer from 11 critics and a 65 percent audience Popcornmeter.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/belle_and_sebastian) AlloCiné shows a press score of 2.8 out of 5 from 18 reviews against a spectator score of 4.0 from nearly 4,000 ratings.[10](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D208626.html) Festival selections included the Festival du Film Francophone d'Angoulême 2013 and the Grand Lyon Film Festival 2013.[13](https://cineuropa.org/film/248417/) It also won the Youth Jury Award for Films4Families Feature at the Seattle International Film Festival and Best Film 2014 at the Children KinoFest in Ukraine.[4](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html)\n\nFrench commentary focused on the film's treatment of the Occupation. [Le Monde](https://www.edgepedia.org/le-monde)'s review, published the day before release, noted that parents might raise an eyebrow at its naive vision of the Nazi occupation serving as the story's backdrop.[14](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/12/17/belle-et-sebastien-quand-les-nazis-ne-sont-pas-si-mechants_4334919_3246.html) The Quebec classification notes describe a narrative of only very light dramatic moments, quickly resolved by the actions of many endearing characters, following a pure-hearted child in the majestic French Alps.[7](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/belle-et-sebastien-383512/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Belle et Sébastien, Visa 133847, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/133847)\n2. [Belle et Sébastien, Académie des César](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/belle-et-sebastien/-36103/)\n3. [Belle et Sébastien, Gaumont](https://www.gaumont.com/fr/film/belle-et-sebastien)\n4. [Présentation du film Belle et Sébastien, fan site](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/presentation.html)\n5. [Belle et Sébastien (2013), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Belle-et-Sebastien-%282013-France%29)\n6. [Belle et Sébastien: l'aventure continue, Visa 140077, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/140077)\n7. [Belle et Sébastien, Répertoire des films classés, Québec](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/belle-et-sebastien-383512/)\n8. [Belle and Sebastian, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/belle_and_sebastian)\n9. [Belle and Sebastian: Context, Toronto Jewish Film Festival study guide](https://tjff.com/media/Belle%20et%20Seebastien%20study%20guidea%20%282%29.pdf)\n10. [Belle et Sébastien (2013), AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D208626.html)\n11. [Belle et Sébastien, Unifrance](https://www.unifrance.org/film/34274/belle-et-sebastien)\n12. [Versions étrangères, fan site](https://belle-et-sebastien.e-monsite.com/pages/les-films/belle-et-sebastien/versions-etrangeres.html)\n13. [Belle et Sébastien, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/film/248417/)\n14. [« Belle et Sébastien » : quand les nazis ne sont pas si méchants, Le Monde (17 December 2013)](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/12/17/belle-et-sebastien-quand-les-nazis-ne-sont-pas-si-mechants_4334919_3246.html)\n15. [Belle et Sébastien: la trilogie, Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb455454485)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Adventure films › Released 2005 to 2026*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/belle-et-sebastien", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/belle-et-sebastien.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Belle et Sébastien\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/belle-et-sebastien. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Belle et Sébastien](https://www.edgepedia.org/belle-et-sebastien)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/belle-et-sebastien](https://www.edgepedia.org/belle-et-sebastien). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Belle et Sébastien\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/belle-et-sebastien. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Belle et Sébastien is a 2013 French family adventure film directed by Nicolas Vanier, about a boy in the Second World War-era French Alps who tames a large white dog, Belle." }