Promise at Dawn

Promise at Dawn follows Romain Gary, from his early years in Poland and Lithuania through his adolescence in Nice and his student days in Paris, and on to his service as a pilot during the Second World War. At the centre of the story is his mother Nina, who raises him alone and is convinced he is destined for greatness as a diplomat and a celebrated writer, a belief she holds through years of wandering and hardship. Her fierce, eccentric devotion shapes his life and remains a burden as well as a driving force. The film is an adaptation of Gary's autobiographical novel of the same name.

Eric Barbier directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Marie Eynard. It is the third of the five features Barbier has directed, coming after The Snake in 2006 and The Last Diamond in 2014, and before Zodi and Téhu: Princes of the Desert in 2023 and Justin the Just in 2026. Pierre Niney plays Romain Gary, with Charlotte Gainsbourg as Nina Kacew, Didier Bourdon as Alex Gubernatis, Jean-Pierre Darroussin as Zaremba, Finnegan Oldfield as Captain Langer and Catherine McCormack as Lesley Blanch.

The film runs 130 minutes and was released in December 2017, produced in France and Belgium. Its worldwide box office reached about 9 million dollars. On IMDb it holds 7.1 out of 10 from roughly 4,200 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from around 514 votes. A critics' rating of 6.4 out of 10 from 11 reviews places it below both audience scores.