For SQL*Plus to process french accents characters when using SQL*Plus, you would need to set NLS_LANG
On Windows
set NLS_LANG=.AL32UTF8
set NLS_LANG=.UTF8
On Unix (ksh)
export NLS_LANG=.AL32UTF8
set NLS_LANG=.UTF8
Now when you start SQLPlus from Unix or Windows it will keep the accents on the french characters.
An Oracle Spin by Alex Lima 
French accents character when using SQL*Plus
Would you have a fix for OpenVMS?
It fixed my problem. Thank you so much.
merci!
thank you, in my file.sh , I juste add :
export NLS_LANG=.AL32UTF8
set NLS_LANG=.UTF8
HI Team,
I am using in french characters in .sql file, it is getting compilation errors of french characters.
Could you please let how compile