"à la Libération" to "à la Libération"???

I have an XML file which contains some foreign characters for example:

I read it using the following script:

$contents = file_get_contents($file);
echo $contents;

PHP:

Now I get strange results for french characters for example "tondues à la Libération" changes to "tondues à la Libération".

Where these strange signs come from and how can I get rid of them?

 

Set the charset of your HTML page to UTF-8.