Just as we saw with "The Reader," here is a different Holocaust story to tell. Most frightening of all, this took place NOT in Germany, but in France.
Siding with Adolf Hitler, and hoping to gain favor, the French authorities round up many Jews and send them to the Vel d'Hiv detention centre.
In an attempt to save her brother, little Sarah (played masterfully by Melusine Mayance) locks her little brother in the closet and hides the key on herself. Once she realizes this may have the opposite effect, Sarah is determined to escape and free her brother. No matter what happens, she keeps that key close to her at all times, even while the most heinous atrocities go on around her.
Now flash forward 70 years or so, and we meet journalist Julia Jarmand, an American living in Paris (played excellently by the always wonderful Kristin Scott Thomas). The movie plays out this type of parallel construction cutting back from Sarah's efforts to save her little brother, to Scott Thomas investigating the story about the atrocities at the Vel d'Hiv detention centre.
For the record, this type of parallel construction really works in the film. Every time we see Julia Jarmand investigating the story, it's like a sigh of relief after watching the terrible moments little Sarah must endure to get back to her family's residence and unlock her starving brother.
Julia discovers a connection to little Sarah and her story and the movie takes a turn for the interesting. That is all I want to say, as I don't wish to give away too much. See the movie; it will likely be the French entrant in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars this year. Was one of the best films I saw this year.
Siding with Adolf Hitler, and hoping to gain favor, the French authorities round up many Jews and send them to the Vel d'Hiv detention centre.
In an attempt to save her brother, little Sarah (played masterfully by Melusine Mayance) locks her little brother in the closet and hides the key on herself. Once she realizes this may have the opposite effect, Sarah is determined to escape and free her brother. No matter what happens, she keeps that key close to her at all times, even while the most heinous atrocities go on around her.
Now flash forward 70 years or so, and we meet journalist Julia Jarmand, an American living in Paris (played excellently by the always wonderful Kristin Scott Thomas). The movie plays out this type of parallel construction cutting back from Sarah's efforts to save her little brother, to Scott Thomas investigating the story about the atrocities at the Vel d'Hiv detention centre.
For the record, this type of parallel construction really works in the film. Every time we see Julia Jarmand investigating the story, it's like a sigh of relief after watching the terrible moments little Sarah must endure to get back to her family's residence and unlock her starving brother.
Julia discovers a connection to little Sarah and her story and the movie takes a turn for the interesting. That is all I want to say, as I don't wish to give away too much. See the movie; it will likely be the French entrant in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars this year. Was one of the best films I saw this year.