Denis Ménochet

Denis Ménochet Biography

Denis Menochet (born 1977 in Enghien-les-Bains, Val-d'Oise) is a French film and television actor. Menochet is perhaps best known to an international audience for his role as Perrier LaPadite, a French dairy farmer interrogated by the Nazis for harboring Jews, in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film, Inglourious Basterds. Elizabeth Weitzman, a film critic for the New York Daily News, praised Menochet's work opposite Christoph Waltz in the opening scene of Inglorious Basterds.

Weitzman wrote in August 2009, "The terrific opening, for example, does feature a hailstorm of bullets. What you'll remember best, though, is the haunted silence of actor Denis Menochet, playing a French farmer accused of harboring Jews."

Denis Ménochet Movies

The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun

Denis Ménochet TV Shows

Denis Ménochet Quotes

A Tense Encounter of Truth and Consequences

Col. Hans Landa: [as he lights his pipe; long pause, while he stares hard at LaPadite, his smile slowly drops to a more stern look] Now, my job dictates that I must have my men enter your home and conduct a thorough search before I can officially cross your family's name off my list, and if there are any irregularities to be found, rest assured they will be — that is, unless you have something to tell me that makes the conducting of a search unnecessary. I might add, also, that any information that makes the performance of my duties easier will not be met with punishment. Actually, quite the contrary, it will be met with reward, and that reward will be your family will cease to be harassed in any way by the German military during the rest of our occupation of your country. You are sheltering enemies of the state, are you not?

Perrier LaPadite: Yes.

Landa: You're sheltering them underneath your floorboards, aren't you?

LaPadite: [Tearfully] Yes.

Landa: [LaPadite points. Landa rises and walks to where he pointed, gesturing with his pipe while LaPadite nods to confirm] Point out to me the areas where they are hiding. Since I haven't heard any disturbance, I assume that while they're listening, they don't speak English.

LaPadite: Yes.

Landa: I'm going to switch back to French now. I want you to follow my masquerade. Is that clear?

LaPadite: Yes.

Landa: [In French; Opens the door and lets [[w:Schutzstaffel|SS soldiers; Soldiers shoot up the floorboards with sole survivor Shoshanna running off in distance with Landa pointing his [[w:Walther P38|walther pistol] Monsieur LaPadite, I thank you for the milk and your hospitality. I do believe our business here is done. ] in] Ah, ladies. I thank you for your time. We shan't be bothering your family any longer. So, Monsieur, Mademoiselle, I bid farewell to you and say; adieu! ] at her, only to lower it] Au revoir, Shosanna!

The Nature of Perception and Prejudice

Col. Hans Landa: [[W:Wehrmacht|German soldiers] The feature that makes me such an effective hunter of the Jews is, as opposed to most ], I can think like a Jew, where they can only think like a German — more precisely: German soldier. Now, if one were to determine what attribute the German people share with a beast, it would be the cunning and the predatory instinct of a hawk. But if one were to determine what attributes the Jews share with a beast, it would be that of the rat. The Führer and Goebbels's propaganda have said pretty much the same thing, but where our conclusions differ is: I don't consider the comparison an insult. Consider, for a moment, the world a rat lives in. It's a hostile world, indeed. If a rat were to scamper through your front door right now, would you greet it with hostility?

Perrier LaPadite: I suppose I would.

Landa: Has a rat ever done anything to you to create this animosity you feel towards them?

LaPadite: Rats spread diseases. They bite people.

Landa: [[w:Black Death|the bubonic plague] Rats were the cause of ], but that's some time ago. I propose to you, any disease a rat could spread, a squirrel could equally carry. Would you agree?

LaPadite: Oui.

Landa: Yet I assume you don't share the same animosity with squirrels that you do with rats, do you?

LaPadite: No.

Landa: But they're both rodents, are they not? And except for the tail, they even rather look alike, don't they?

LaPadite: It's an interesting thought, Herr Colonel.

Landa: Ha! However interesting as the thought may be, it makes not one bit of difference to how you feel. If a rat were to walk in here right now, as I'm talking, would you greet it with a saucer of your delicious milk?

LaPadite: Probably not.

Landa: I didn't think so. You don't like them. You don't really know why you don't like them. All you know is you find them repulsive. Consequently, a German soldier conducts a search of a house suspected of hiding Jews: where does the hawk look? He looks in the barn. He looks in the attic. He looks in the cellar. He looks everywhere he would hide, but there's so many places it would never occur to a hawk to hide. However, the reason the Führer has brought me off my Alps in Austria and placed me in French cow country today is because it does occur to me, because I'm aware what tremendous feats human beings are capable of once they abandon dignity.