A very well acted emotional story illustrating the atrocities of the Germans in WWII. I found some of the scenes very disturbing though thought provoking as to what depths the human race can sink to. Films like this must be made to capture new generations who far too often are ignorant of history or have history glossed over to maintain current day international relations and sensitivities.
16 Reviews
Holocaust triangle
SnoopyStyle9 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
In 1971 Poland, older cello player Planck is greeted as a returning triumph with her daughter. In 1941 Poland, doctor Artur Planck (Joseph Fiennes), his wife Clara (Clare Higgins) and their two daughters are trying to escape the coming Nazis. One of the girls is killed. They find shelter at Emilia (Maria Pakulnis)'s farm house. She's the local grocer whose husband is lost in the fighting. While Clara is forced to stay in the attic, Emilia gets romantic with Artur and tells people that he's her cousin.
This Holocaust story could have been made more intense. There is a slight tone problem. It strays too far into love triangle territories. Those parts should be treated with more matter-of-factness. Every hurt feeling and every hesitation adds an unwanted melodramatic feel to the movie. This should have been more tense.
This Holocaust story could have been made more intense. There is a slight tone problem. It strays too far into love triangle territories. Those parts should be treated with more matter-of-factness. Every hurt feeling and every hesitation adds an unwanted melodramatic feel to the movie. This should have been more tense.
More Mills & Boon than Dostoyevsky
michaelberanek27513 August 2021
More than a bit disappointed this wasn't a very realistic war drama actors hammering out lines in English with odd stilted vaguely Slavonic accents thrown in. Then the laborious romance matters then seemed to draw a veil over what was left of the realism in the movie
and I'm sorry but with the milk maid plunging visuals I didn't need a 'We are Slavic' soundtrack to imagine that fantastic erotically charged Polish trash-pop entry in Eurovision 2014. It nearly won. Anyway. Then the flash forwards elements make use of over simplistic visual references - yes, it's the same place, again... And is there enough prosthetics? A shortage?
Dark, but worthwhile.
gudrunh-794-690371 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Renowned composer and musician returns to Poland with her daughter for the opening of a concert hall dedicated in her honour. She in turn seeks out a country farmhouse and its owner, but is left in no doubt that she is not welcome there.
Another movie told in flash-back, this follows the plight of Jewish surgeon Artur Planck, his wife Clara and their family as they seek to escape persecution in occupied Poland. Based on the life of composer Ida Fink, it paints a very bleak picture indeed, and a very complex one, emotionally.
Rural Emilia is forlornly awaiting her husband's return from the front and she takes the family in, giving them shelter in her loft.
Now here it begins to get a bit tricky.
Emilia has long held a torch for Artur (she confesses to him that she had once visited his surgery for an examination while not actually being ill), and his presence here could be a mutually beneficial one, despite the danger in which it places her. His wife upstairs though is an inconvenience.
On the pretext that Clara's "Jewish appearance" would be a liability if she were to be anywhere but up in the loft, and that Artur could pass as a local (a visiting brother?) she encourages him to do the necessary work around the farm and thus be in a position to spend more time with her. And he does, albeit reluctantly, for his wife is after all just upstairs. For her part though she has become resigned to survival, even at the cost of her marriage and so she sanctions this parlous and already tempestuous relationship.
Emilia's expectations increase incrementally and she wants this new union to have legitimacy. Wartime yes, but Catholic Poland is still Catholic Poland.
The final scenes are harrowing but answer the many questions which had been earlier posed.
A very dark, but worthwhile film, though the "classic war movie" label is somewhat misleading. Rather, a movie set in wartime.
Another movie told in flash-back, this follows the plight of Jewish surgeon Artur Planck, his wife Clara and their family as they seek to escape persecution in occupied Poland. Based on the life of composer Ida Fink, it paints a very bleak picture indeed, and a very complex one, emotionally.
Rural Emilia is forlornly awaiting her husband's return from the front and she takes the family in, giving them shelter in her loft.
Now here it begins to get a bit tricky.
Emilia has long held a torch for Artur (she confesses to him that she had once visited his surgery for an examination while not actually being ill), and his presence here could be a mutually beneficial one, despite the danger in which it places her. His wife upstairs though is an inconvenience.
On the pretext that Clara's "Jewish appearance" would be a liability if she were to be anywhere but up in the loft, and that Artur could pass as a local (a visiting brother?) she encourages him to do the necessary work around the farm and thus be in a position to spend more time with her. And he does, albeit reluctantly, for his wife is after all just upstairs. For her part though she has become resigned to survival, even at the cost of her marriage and so she sanctions this parlous and already tempestuous relationship.
Emilia's expectations increase incrementally and she wants this new union to have legitimacy. Wartime yes, but Catholic Poland is still Catholic Poland.
The final scenes are harrowing but answer the many questions which had been earlier posed.
A very dark, but worthwhile film, though the "classic war movie" label is somewhat misleading. Rather, a movie set in wartime.
Powerful Moments That Are Lost In An Atmosphere Of Melodrama
sddavis636 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
There are some very powerful and very emotionally moving moments in this movie. Certainly the deaths of Artur and Clara's two young daughters after they're shot by German soldiers are horrifying, Clare Higgins was riveting as she described Artur's final fate, and the concert at the end of the movie as she played the cello and saw in the audience the faces from her past certainly made the point that survivors of the Holocaust must be haunted by their memories and must find it difficult to move on. But on the whole this movie disappoints. Those powerful moments are somewhat scattered and so don't really hold this together or raise it to a higher level.
Instead, this movie came across to me as rather muddled. It shifts back and forth repeatedly from 1971, as Clara revisits some of the places from her past, to 1941, as we're given the story of what happened to her family. The shifts are somewhat abrupt. They didn't flow very well; they weren't smooth. I also thought that the movie had an unfortunate air of melodrama to it as it traces the relationship between Artur and Emilia - the young woman in whose farmhouse the Plancks hide, and who falls in love with Artur and begins a somewhat strained relationship with him. I'm not denying that such things could have happened, but it really didn't seem to be the plot point around which a movie of this type should revolve.
As an addition to the "Holocaust" collection of films, I have to say that this is not one of the stronger ones. (3/10)
Instead, this movie came across to me as rather muddled. It shifts back and forth repeatedly from 1971, as Clara revisits some of the places from her past, to 1941, as we're given the story of what happened to her family. The shifts are somewhat abrupt. They didn't flow very well; they weren't smooth. I also thought that the movie had an unfortunate air of melodrama to it as it traces the relationship between Artur and Emilia - the young woman in whose farmhouse the Plancks hide, and who falls in love with Artur and begins a somewhat strained relationship with him. I'm not denying that such things could have happened, but it really didn't seem to be the plot point around which a movie of this type should revolve.
As an addition to the "Holocaust" collection of films, I have to say that this is not one of the stronger ones. (3/10)
So Disappointing
EdeBorrett19 June 2021
The basic storyline for the movie is actually quite emotional (no spoilers, I'm not going to give it away) and teh acting is good, as you might expect from the strong cast.
HOWEVER the direction is absolutely amateurish! There are so many ploy holes that you really have to be asleep not to ask "how did that happen" or "how de he/she know that, or see that?" You could say that most of these are due to a bad script but they all seem to be just a case of poor direction and directorial almost contempt for his audience. You could, I suppose, still enjoy teh movie but the plot holes make so much of the storyline not make sense that I don't see how.
Definitely not one that I could recommend and, by teh way, the Germans invaded Poland in Autumn 1939 and the Russian part of Poland in Summer 1941....
HOWEVER the direction is absolutely amateurish! There are so many ploy holes that you really have to be asleep not to ask "how did that happen" or "how de he/she know that, or see that?" You could say that most of these are due to a bad script but they all seem to be just a case of poor direction and directorial almost contempt for his audience. You could, I suppose, still enjoy teh movie but the plot holes make so much of the storyline not make sense that I don't see how.
Definitely not one that I could recommend and, by teh way, the Germans invaded Poland in Autumn 1939 and the Russian part of Poland in Summer 1941....
It's all fine, although it's partly like a filmed stageplay
Nozz19 October 2013
The filmmakers went to the trouble of shooting much of this movie in Poland, and maybe they benefited from something invisible in the atmosphere but there is rather little happening outdoors in the movie and I couldn't have told whether it was shot in Poland or in Poughkeepsie. Because so much of the film occurs in the small space of a peasant's hut, you could mistake it for a stage play with a few cinematic scenes tacked on. And the screenwriter, Motti Lerner, does in fact write mostly for the stage. It could be that audiences were surprised by the relative weight of the indoor part of the story, where everything depends on the interaction of the actors and their movement in a space no bigger than a stage; and by the relative weight of the interplay between the characters living in fear of the Nazis, as opposed to actual encounters with the Nazis themselves. But if you accept that the emphasis lies where it does, then you'll certainly be glad that for once Uri Barbash directed a script by an independently successful playwright rather than by his brother Benny (no offense intended). The actors do a great job of selling the story, and the script does a great job of showing a human dilemma of conflicting priorities with life and death at stake.
Unnecessarily Shaky
innerdesire2 September 2017
The film in a serious subject, but far too often the shaky cam forces the audience to look away missing much of this movie. If you like nausea and headaches check it out. Otherwise simply skip this one. Its really surprising to me that in a day in age when there is so much hardware available to directors to keep video smooth and professional that something like this could ever get made. Directors and Investors: It doesn't matter how good your script is, if you make your movie look like a middle school phone camera youtube video, we can't watch it.
Very strong message
kcv478114 March 2019
I have seen many World War II documentaries and movies. Even more on the German caused Holocaust. Although this isn't focused on concentration camps like most of them are, this for some reason depicted the Jewish pain better than most.
Heart wrenching
bReezeydoesit8 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This film is a true tear jerker. The pain this family must have felt is unimaginable. As a father I couldn't begin to imagine the pain of losing both of your young children. When the youngest daughter was murdered I felt a knot in my throat. When the second daughter died I couldn't help but have a tear fall down my cheek. This family was torn apart in nearly every was possible. Such little babies ruthlessly slaughtered, what a sad part of human history. How the parents kept going after the first child was killed I can not fathom. Losing a little one to such horrific circumstances, right before your eyes and not being able to do anything about it, not even hold your child is too much to bear. I don't think I would have been able to hold back my emotions or revenge. I am fairly sure I would have died trying to get some street justice.
Leading Actors excellent.... story great...except
smitslisarush1 December 2021
This is a serious portrait of the suffering, pain and sacrifices of hideous Nazi occupation & the Jewish people.
I like the story unveiled by surviving Madam Planck 30 years later... the movie switches between the occupation to her finally sharing w her daughter of that life and village.
It is moving, only Emilia storyline too long, (time could have been spent on other aspects). We get the point early on that she is going to push too far, with tragic results to haunt her. Then the villager drunk cousin - too much of him. There was room to have one or two more characters in the story, versus overly drawn out storytelling like that.
Well worth watching - an earnest movie.
I like the story unveiled by surviving Madam Planck 30 years later... the movie switches between the occupation to her finally sharing w her daughter of that life and village.
It is moving, only Emilia storyline too long, (time could have been spent on other aspects). We get the point early on that she is going to push too far, with tragic results to haunt her. Then the villager drunk cousin - too much of him. There was room to have one or two more characters in the story, versus overly drawn out storytelling like that.
Well worth watching - an earnest movie.
Powerful, Moving, and Engrossing
Moviegoer1917 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I've seen many Holocaust and WWII films, and for me Spring 1941 is up there among the best of them. It shows how people would tolerate just about anything to save their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. In this case, a Jewish couple left their home in order to avoid Nazi capture. Along the way one of their young daughters is killed. The remaining child and the parents stay at the home of a local farmer who also happens to be in love with the husband in the couple, as he was her doctor. They enter into a relationship and the scorned wife wants out. Ultimately the husband chooses his family over the farmer, and they take their chances by leaving the farmer's home and joining the Jews being marched to god knows where.
The story of the past is interspersed with the story of the wife thirty years later when she has become a famous cellist and returns to Poland to receive an award. I believe the alternating between 1941 and 1971 was done effectively. By the film's end it has evolved into a real tear jerker, presenting the overwhelming sadness that the characters have had to bear, from 1941 to the present. That's what came across most intensely for me: that no matter what the details were of any individual's or family's story, every one of them was tragic with an ensuing lifetime of sad memories. No matter how extensive the accomplishments of Holocaust survivors, and no matter how much time passes, the images of their perished loved ones and the heinous sadistic abuse they endured, never go away.
For such an intense, emotional story, I think the acting was excellent and did it justice. I never felt, as at least one reviewer did, that the film descended into melodrama.
The story of the past is interspersed with the story of the wife thirty years later when she has become a famous cellist and returns to Poland to receive an award. I believe the alternating between 1941 and 1971 was done effectively. By the film's end it has evolved into a real tear jerker, presenting the overwhelming sadness that the characters have had to bear, from 1941 to the present. That's what came across most intensely for me: that no matter what the details were of any individual's or family's story, every one of them was tragic with an ensuing lifetime of sad memories. No matter how extensive the accomplishments of Holocaust survivors, and no matter how much time passes, the images of their perished loved ones and the heinous sadistic abuse they endured, never go away.
For such an intense, emotional story, I think the acting was excellent and did it justice. I never felt, as at least one reviewer did, that the film descended into melodrama.
Depiction of pain and relentless evil
bobwarn-756681 January 2021
Breezeydoesit nailed it. As a father and grandfather of girls, the pain of the parents would have been indescribable. I find it impossible in movies of this nature to go beyond the story. Picky critiques do not cut it. Anyone who does this has never had children. The relentless evil of the Nazi regime is palpable.
Very moving, well filmed, a gem of a film
CineCineCineCine2 August 2021
I cannot understand how the average score of this movie is so low if most of the reviews are excellent. This is an intimate, subdued approach to the horrors of antisemitism, which for me has caused as strong an impression as super productions like Schindler's List. I will now do a bit of research on the character if Ida Fink and jew persecution in Poland. It's also a heartbreaking love story. Totally worth watching although a couple of scenes are really painful to witness.
Superbly moving.
lewis-5113 March 2022
This is one of the best holocaust dramas I've ever seen, maybe the best. Superbly acted, plotted, directed, photographed. Engrossing, emotional. I loved the flashbacks and "flash forwards", if that's the word. Every character is believable, and you feel for every one. The last five minutes are truly excellent.
An inside and personal view of the holocaust, with shattering authenticity
clanciai25 July 2022
The film is based on authentic material by Ida Fink, who lived through it all and wrote a book about it, and the film lives up to perfect realism and faithfulness to the horrible account of the destinies of just a few people out of the uncountable masses of victims in Poland during the war, both Jews and civilians. The story shows only the most brutal aspects of the Germans, there is not the slightest glimpse of any humanity in these cruel butchers, while we know there were exceptions. The acting is superb, there is no overacting in spite of some roles and occurrences inviting to exaggerations, but the restraint is perfect all the way, even as there are inevitable outbursts of passion and incidents. The circumstances of this film are very much reminding of Jerzy Kosinski's "The Painted Bird", as if you would expect him to appear as well as a fugitive in the Polish countryside. However, the atrocities are quite enough without him, and the inhuman horrors of the events are balanced by the eloquence of the composition, leading up to the magnificent concluding scenes, transporting the drama out into timelessness in a perfectly natural way. Everything is convincing and unfortunately more than convincing, bringing you into painfully close encounter with the very essence of the supreme inhumanity of war.
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