ray-cann
I finally saw Sarah's Key and I will say that its an excellent film. Kristin Scott Thomas was great as usual, but the real star was Melusine Mayance who played the young Sarah. She was phenomenal and an actress to keep an eye on in the future. I haven't read the novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, but it's possible the film could have taken several different directions. The time shifts between 1942 and 2009 did not bother me, but I preferred the scenes with Mayance over the scenes with Thomas. Others have commented that the shifts between the two stories was necessary to avoid having another typical "Holocaust" film, but if Mayance carried the film herself from 1942 onwards, it would have been fine with me. I liked how the film portrayed a France that we do not get to see often--their experiences during the Holocaust, Vichy, etc. Yes, there are clichés, but sometimes they cannot be avoided. Hey, it's film-making after all! Overall, I give high praise for this film. It's unfortunate that Thomas and Mayance did not receive Oscar nominations for these role (but is anyone really surprised?!) but they will go far and continue to impress us
canadianguy62
The movie fairly true to the book in that the telling of the story was done with flash-backs and flash-forwards and things pretty well followed the same plot. However, where the book was a compelling read, the movie was far less so.I hate to be picky, but I have to say that the single most frustrating thing about the movie was the very poor quality of the subtitles. Since this movie starred an Anglo actress (Kristin Scott Thomas) and some of the dialogue was in English, the subtitles should have been decent ... unfortunately no.Here are a few examples."That's what I said yesterday al Normally he should be." (Huh? al? and why is normally capitalized? and exactly what the hell are you trying to say?)."You never reacts, Julia. I have three ties left a message" I think what is meant here is, "You never answer, Julia. I have left three messages."And another, "Bertrand I have spoken. He said you write an article about ..." How about, "Bertrand and I have spoken. He said you are writing (or you wrote) and article about ..."It was very distracting having to read these dreadful translations and it took a lot away from the movie. Surely, they could have asked Kristin Scott Thomas - or anyone else with basic English skills - to give them a once over and make them readable. It's mind-blowing how awful they were (and the examples I gave were all from about one five- minute stretch in the movie ... there are dozens more just like them).
TOMASBBloodhound
Taken as a whole, this film has to be considered a misfire. Though the story of a little Jewish girl named Sarah locking her little brother in a closet to hide him from police during WWII is interesting, the rest of the film about a journalist attempting to track her down is not. In spite of a good performance by Kristin Scott Thomas, her side of this drama lacks intensity, authenticity, and even narrative purpose. Is it only out of a sense of guilt that she wishes to track Sarah down? Simply because her French husband's family moved into the apartment with the little boy still locked inside the closet? Is this entire movie an indictment of the French in general for officially collaborating with the Nazis during the war? Is the reporter's husband's reluctance at being a father so late in life a byproduct of his country's selfish culture? I'm not sure, and personally have no ax to grind against the French, but this movie seems to have such an agenda.Sarah's key has some intense moments, but overall comes off as a Lifetime Network version of Schindler's list. Sarah is the story here. From the moment she discovers the fate of her brother we learn very little about her. She turned out to be a very attractive woman, so that was a plus. It is even hinted that she developed a taste for some of the wilder things in life, but exactly what those things were, this PG-13 rated film dares not tell us. Once we learn Sarah's eventual fate, we aren't that surprised, as guilt can be impossible to shake. But why couldn't we see more of her life after the war? Why do we need to learn about it in little nuggets from a reporter we really don't care about? Anyone else stunned she named her baby Sarah??? Never saw that coming. 6 of 10 stars.The Hound.
secondtake
Sarah's Key (2010)A two pronged film with a harrowing account of French anti-Semitism in World War II paralleling a contemporary account of a reporter discovering the details of one Jewish family destroyed by those events. Eventually the tales collide, and coincide, and another kind of meaning arises about accountability and acceptance.At first this tale might strike you as both forced--the two narratives are very disjointed and separate, back and forth--and painfully familiar--another riveting, heart wrenching version of Jewish suffering and determination during the Holocaust. But stick with it, because it picks up complexity and nuance as it goes. Once you realize the roundup and mistreatment and eventual killing of the Jews is led in this case by French officials, you know this has a different kind of chill to it. And then you find that the contemporary story is literally connected to the 1940s story.The leading actress in the 2010 thread, Kristin Scott Thomas, is one of those rare actresses who can command the screen with quiet brooding. She's convincing in a way that we identify with, and our sympathies are with her from the start. As she uncovers the facts of the past, and faces varying degrees of concern and indifference, she herself undergoes a transformation. This, by the end, is really what the story is about, the pertinence for our own times. The specific events around the title idea, the young girl's key, are horrifying to the point of being slightly sensationalist, but the rest of the movie is so studied and careful, you take it in stride.In all I was surprised and eventually deeply moved by this movie. It's filmed with exquisite camera-work and is sharply edited. And most of all, director Gilles Paquet-Brenner gets the most from all the actors, from the children in the prison camp to the adults on all sides showing their human sides in restrained ways, without caricature.
AD
