Genres

Visitors Review

Marshall Fine 2012-05-25 05:32:54

Unpeels itself slowly and delicately, but finds moments of overwhelming feeling and sadness. It is restrained movie-making that packs real power.

2012-05-25 01:47:32

Emotionally Filled Tragedy

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) This movie is really a story within a story. The real story is the tragedy accompanying the incidences in the life of young Sarah Starzynski, played by a fine young French actress Melusine Mayance. But this plot is wrapped in the over-plot of an American journalist Julia Jarmond, played by the wonderful actress, Kristin Scott Thomas, who is assigned to cover the 1942 roundup of Jews in Paris ordered by the Vichy government which was in control at the time, but acting under German orders. Julia's problem is that she finds out that the Paris apartment they inherited from her in-laws was the scene of a terrible tragedy involving the Jewish populace at the time, and particularly the young Sarah and her family who lived there before the Jarmonds took it over. There is actually even a third minor plot of Julia finding out she has accidentally become pregnant and which causes great consternation between her, since she wants the baby, and her husband who doesn't. To me this subplot added nothing to the story and was even a minor distraction, but I will leave that for you to decide.The story as told is basically sad, with only the opening scenes of Sarah and her younger brother, Michelle, or Michael playing together. The real story begins when she hides Michael in a closet and locks it with a key to keep the police from taking him also. The title gets its name from what happens with and because of that key, which is also the symbolism for why Sarah's life unfolds in the tragic manner in which it does. Basically all the other characters play secondary or tertiary roles at best. The movie is about the interconnectedness of Julia and Sarah, and how it changes the course of Julia's life once she begins her quest to find out what happened to Sarah.The acting by the two actresses previously mentioned was first-rate and the overall story line was captivating. Again, I think that the story of the late life pregnancy of Julia was unnecessary, whether it was part of the book or not, however, I recognize that some female viewers may think it adds to the integration of the story. Also as others have commented, I think the ending was a bit saccharine and didn't quite ring true to life. But all in all, this movie is fine viewing for adults with an interest in real drama. Due to the main plot it is not appropriate for youngsters who may become frightened that such things that happened with Sarah and her brother might happen to them.

Peter Bradshaw 2012-05-15 02:27:16

Things get a bit TV movie-ish. But Kristin Scott Thomas gives it weight.

2012-05-14 03:35:44

A Wonderful Surprise

This movie explores a part of history that I did not realize occurred - the round up of Jews by the French government. I found myself mesmerized not only by the story but the acting. It is perfectly cast. And yes it is about WWII, and the concentrations camps, and it is sad, but still a story that needs to be told and retold. Worth seeing. It is in English as well as French (with subtitles) . I would recommend viewing this film to anyone.

Kyle Smith 2012-05-12 21:39:56

Clunky, improbable plot developments match equally inept dialogue.

2012-05-12 08:54:20

This is a great movie

This review is from: Sarah's Key (DVD) This movie is great... good historical perspective on the period of WW2. One of those movies that keeps providing great perspective on what happened to people during this time of strife and pain. The book is also good. Everyone ought to consider seeing this movie. Subtitles are not difficult to follow, and those who are French-speaking... it is a joy to see a film in French. Well worth the price!!

TxMike 2012-05-05 21:37:10

It was July 1942 and the French were imprisoning thousands of their own Jewish population.

The subject is crimes against Jews in 1942, but not the usual Nazioperations. Sympathizing with Germany, the French themselves in July ofthat year rounded up their own citizens, and most of them wereeventually sent to concentration camps and were killed.This story focuses on one family, as they are being forced out of theirParis apartment the young daughter, Sarah, locks her younger brotherinto a semi-hidden closet and tells him she will be back for him. Shekeeps the key, thus the title "Sarah's Key." The rest of the movieswitches back and forth between 1940s and the 2000s. Kristen ScottThomas is Julia, a modern day journalist and her publication is doing astory on that 1942 event.This is a work of fiction, based on a book, but the story is plausibleand shows a different angle on the persecution and unjust murder ofthousands of Jews. A worthwhile movie.SPOILERS: Young Sarah's parents are shipped out and she finds herselfin a camp with only children and guards. She wants to get out, go backto their home, and free her little brother. When she eventually getsthere the boy has died , locked in the closet for weeks. Sarah getsadopted by a rural family, and as Julia researches the incident triesto track down Sarah. As it turned out she grew up and went to Americaand settled in Brooklyn, had a son who now lives in Italy. Sarah didnot survive, she died in a car accident that might actually have beensuicide, still despondent from not being able to save her littlebrother. But Julia ands up meeting with Sarah's son and filling him inon the part of her life he never knew about.

Angie Errigo 2012-05-05 07:27:29

Exceptional turns by Mélusine Mayance and the ever-excellent Kristin Scott Thomas illuminate a tense and compelling story. The contrived modern-day framing works less well.

Lynden Barber 2012-05-03 23:04:18

What makes Sarah's Key work so powerfully is the way the two strands build upon each other to become greater than the sum of the two parts.

Saad Khan 2012-05-03 04:21:39

Past is outstanding and the present is above average...Mélusine Mayance steals the show.

Elle s'appelait Sarah – Sarah's Key – CATCH IT (French) (B+) TheSarah's Key is a one of a kind Holocaust story about a young girl inParis. On July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year old girl, is taken with herparents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewishfamilies in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her youngerbrother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard "their secret hidingplace" and promises to come back for him. From their Sarah's heartwrenching journey start to go back and rescue her locked brother.Sarah's story unfolds in today's time when a journalist plans to moveinto her in-laws apartment which was taken by the French during WorldWar II. The heart of Sarah's Key has to be the young talented actress"Mélusine Mayance", her portrayal as Sarah, the girl who mistakenlylocks her young brother thinking he will be safe is truly heartwrenching. The scene when she finally meets her brother is heartwrenching. Kirsten Scott Thomas as the journalist unfolding the truthhas done a fantastic job. I must applaud the director who shot theHolocaust era scenes beautifully. Sarah's Key is a beautiful moviethough when Kirsten finds Sarah's grandson I thought it'll led to thepublication of her remarkable story and about what she went through allthose years mentally and physically but it turned into Kirsten'scharacter finding herself. Which was little weird for me. Overall,Sarah's Key is highly effective and especially the 1914S scenes madethis movie memorable.

2012-04-25 17:36:00

Save your money and buy it first, I've rented it 4 times.

I've never written a review before but Sara's Key truly should not be missed, and there are many films that should. Seeing as I have wasted more of my life than I like to admit with those, I would feel ungrateful and stupid to not take 2 seconds to let you know that IMHO Sara's Key is the exact opposite end of the spectrum, life enriching art that makes you think. I can't remember seeing better acting, and I've been trying to since the first time I saw it. The score is moving. Direction is masterful, and the story is compelling. My sister (who doesn't speak french) recommended it strongly and obviously I'm glad that I listened to her. The story(ies) is(are) well covered in other reviews, so I'll just agree with the other reviewers, don't miss it.

John DeSando 2012-04-25 14:10:38

What would you have done?

Holocaust movies are tricky efforts: the replication of history isdifficult to bear and distracts from the story, or the story isliterary and distracts from the reality. Schindler's list and Boy inthe Striped Pajamas are two examples of both attempts at the same timewith degrees of success. Add Sarah's Key, adapted from the best sellerby Tatiana de Rosnay, to my list, the sometimes sentimental story of ayoung girl caught in the 1942 Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of Jews in Paris, notby the Nazis but the capitulating French.Although Sarah's (Melsuine Mayance) story, starting when she is 8 andlocked her brother in a closet to keep him from being deported, is thestuff of fiction, the roundup is real as she is depicted losing herbrother and parents in circumstances bizarre and mundane, the filmbeing loaded with irony and paradox. Her journey to rescue him andmodern day bi-lingual Julia's (Kristin Scott Thomas) search for theelderly Sarah uncovers not just the secrets of Sarah's flight but alsothe latent prejudices and denials lingering from that horrific event.The story intercuts between eras to help show the immediate effect ofthe search on Julia's life and the universal sadness still living inthe souls of the survivors. The film gently reveals the secrets andlies while it respects the complexity of the roundup and Shoa ingeneral. Peeling away the layers of historical camouflage that covereven a family renting the rooms where the soon-to-be-corralledStaczinzky family lived is not easy. It isn't for those in the audienceeither who wonder what they would have done.Sarah's Key is not perfect, for it tends to be more thriller thandrama, the parallel stories of strong women are too balanced, and theending leans toward the cliché and the sentimental.Although I still love the less than historical Boy in the StripedPajamas, but Sarah's Key has its own power to impress.

2012-04-25 10:47:21

A different kind of Holocaust movie

This review is from: Sarah's Key (DVD) Two things make this film unique for me. The first is that it examines the willing culpability of a group separate from the Nazis - in this case, the French government. The suffering the French government inflicted upon its own citizens - all in the name of ethnic cleansing - is shocking, heartbreaking and all too-familiarly horrifying in its execution. Sadly the French were far from alone in such actions. However, the most important point that this film illustrates is the post-traumatic aftermath of such human suffering. Despite the loving support of her adopted French family and the subsequent love of a caring, doting husband and precious son, Sarah could not overcome or come to terms with the pain and loss she endured during the Holocaust. Like with the brilliant and prolific, Primo Levi, the horror of those experiences was simply too much to bear. The film is wonderful in the telling of the story and its current-day impact on those who previously felt they had no connection with those events of 60+ years ago. But, ultimately, it's Sarah's story: of loss, of attempted rebuilding and ultimate self-sacrifice in the face of such overwhelming trauma. It is not an uncommon story in Holocaust history, but one which rarely gets addressed. Here, it is done with courage and thoughtfulness.

2012-04-24 16:50:55

Powerful scenes of deportation of French Jewry diminished by film's contrived central dramatic moment

*** This review may contain spoilers ***Sarah's Key features two alternating stories initially set in Paris, one concerning the fate of Sarah, a 10 year old Jewish girl and her family during the Nazi occupation in 1942 and another set in 2009 involving Julia, an American born French journalist, who has been researching the infamous Velodrome d'Hiver incident--a bicycle arena where thousands of French Jews were interned in squalid conditions after being rounded up by the French police upon orders of the Nazis.When Julia discovers that the apartment she and her French born husband are about to move into, bequeathed to them by her husband's family, is the same apartment that belonged to a Jewish family that had been deported, her interest in the fate of French Jewry in World War II becomes personal--something much more than just one of her journalistic assignments. Before you know it, she pays a call to an expert Holocaust researcher who is able to provide her with the names of the deported family, which includes Sarah and her younger brother.Perhaps the most gripping scenes in 'Sarah's Key' involve the deportation of the Jews during the infamous Parisian roundup. The horror is first aptly conveyed in the mother's panicked reaction to the French policeman's orders for everyone in the household to leave (including the children). As the police look for the husband (who is soon to be arrested when he returns home, unaware that the police have arrived), the two children sneak off into another room. Sarah inexplicably locks her younger brother in a closet and keeps the key, expecting soon to return and free him. Things get worse for the family when they're shipped to the Velodrome and they're forced to remain there for days on end, without toilets and in stifling heat. Frightened adults as well as children witness multiple suicides, as despairing deportees jump from the rafters. When the victims are transported to relocation camps, the full horror is conveyed when the parents are separated from their children and are driven off in trucks to death camps.Like many comparable films created by German filmmakers, the scenarists appear to be ambivalent on the subject of homegrown complicity in the Holocaust. One scene illustrates this ambivalence--as the Jews are being deported, one French woman calls out from the window of her apartment, in substance, that the Jews are getting what's coming to them. But another man, in another apartment, yells to the woman, 'they'll come for you next'. Similarly, the villainous French police have one good apple amongst their ranks--the one who allows Sarah and her soon to be dying friend, to crawl under the barbed wire and make their escape from the relocation camp. And yes, there's even a quid pro quo when it comes to villagers: before taken in by the kindly couple, there was that gruff, homeowner who sends the children away without helping them. By mainly focusing on the 'righteous gentile' couple who saves Sarah, the film's scenarists may be giving the wrong impression that there was a equal balance between the bad and the good. In reality, the 'helpers' were few and far between, in occupied France.While it was a bit of a stretch to accept the whole idea that Julia, a person who had already been researching Holocaust history in her job as a journalist, was now directly connected to a horror story involving her husband's family's apartment, the horror story itself proves to be far more contrived. I'm speaking of the whole idea of the kindly husband and wife who who decide to take Sarah back to the apartment to discover the fate of her brother. First of all, the husband wouldn't have had any trouble concluding that the child was dead already if he was still in the closet. So why would he allow Sarah to go up and open the closet, subjecting her to a trauma that haunted her for the rest of her life (until her suicide in 1955). Even more unconvincing is the idea that the husband and wife would have actually brought Sarah along to investigate what happened to the brother. How could they be so sure that the bribe would work when they were on the train? All the husband had to do was make the trip to Paris himself, bring the key and ask the new owner (Julia's husband's grandfather) to open the closet. As Sarah's discovery of her dead brother in the closet is the key moment in the film, and the events leading up to that moment are wholly implausible, the overall impact of the film is diminished.Events depicted in the present day also tend to lessen the film's overall impact. Should we really care about Julia's fight with her husband over whether she should keep the baby? Perhaps if the husband was a more fleshed out character, the interaction between the two of them would have been more compelling.Finally, 'Sarah's Key' asks the question, "what would you have done?" had you been under the yoke of Nazi occupation. It's instructive to compare the French and Danes during World War II. Denmark initially faced a much more benign occupation than France--the Nazis allowed them self-government and did not challenge them when they refused to enact laws against the Jews. But when the Nazis changed course in 1943 in Denmark, and a reign of terror did begin (similar to what happened in France), the Danes arranged for their Jewish population to escape by boat to neutral Sweden. In France, due to widespread anti-Semitism, there was little sympathy for the Jews to begin with and no such collective will emerged. The filmmaker's, however, hint that the majority had no choice to act otherwise against the Nazis.'Sarah's Key' does have some affecting moments particularly in its scenes involving the deportation of French Jews, but the film's central dramatic moment is too contrived to be believable.

Brian Gibson 2012-04-19 23:26:16

Loses some force in its latter half but the key story remains gripping. Unlocks 70-year-old horrors so the present can't shut the door on past complicities and crimes.

gradyharp 2012-04-19 10:50:06

A Dark Secret in France's History Revealed

SARAH'S KEY (Elle s'appelait Sarah) is a brilliant film on many levels:the story itself, based on the best selling novel by Tatiana De Rosnayso beautifully adapted for the screen by Serge Joncour and GillesPaquet-Brenner, directed with subtlety and verismo recreation of periodby Gilles Paquet-Brenner assisted by cinematographer Pascal Ridao andscored by Max Richter, and the level of acting by not only some topnotch actors by also by a cast of extras who seem so committed to theproject that they feel very real. The story is a tough one to tell -the surprise being the fact that France was complicit with the Germanoccupiers in gathering the French Jews, sequestering them in hideousconditions and even sending them off to the extermination camps inGermany and Poland. WE have been lead to belie that the Nazis were thesole perpetrators of the Jewish Holocaust and to learn that othercountries knowingly participated in the eradicating the 'Jewishproblem' is startling and terrible sad to learn.The film opens in Paris in 1942 when French officials rounded up over10,000 Jews and placed them in local camps. Eventually over 8,000 weresent off to German concentration camps. As 10-year old Sarah and herfamily are being arrested, she hides her younger brother in a closet.After realizing she will not be allowed to go home, Sarah does whatevershe can to get back to her brother. The Strazynskis are placed in afilth transit facility in Paris awaiting the inevitable: the father issent to concentration camp first followed by the separation of themother and Sarah - the children are separated form their parents andsent to a special camp where in time Sarah and her young friend manageto escape so that Sarah can return to Paris to rescue her brotherMichel. Once in Paris Sarah must dress as a boy to disguise her fromthe German investigators. When she finally is able to return to herhome she uses the key she has held in secret to open the door of thecloset where she hid her brother and obviously finds him dead fromstarvation. Sarah is cared for by Jules and Geneviève Dufaure (NielsArestrup and Dominique Frot) until she is old enough to care forherself (the older Sarah is played with superb facility by MélusineMayance) and we lose sight of her.In 2009, a journalist named Julia (Kristin Scott Thomas) is onassignment to write a story on the deported Jews in 1942. When shemoves into her father-in-law's childhood apartment, she realizes itonce belonged to the Strazynski family, and their daughter Sarah. Juliahas private pains: she discovers that she is pregnant after being toldshe could never conceive and faces the fact that her husband Bertrand(Frédéric Pierrot) does not want her to keep the pregnancy. Juliabecomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Sarah and in doingso she slowly uncovers the difficult history of a girl so brave thatshe risked her life in the time of war only to become unable to retainher name, changing her life in such a way that she marries, has a son,and dies in a sad way. Julia uncovers all of this as she feels that inpast times her young daughter Zoé (Karina Hin) could have been Sarah.Julia's life changes considerably and she returns to her home in NewYork where she discovers the final truths about Sarah and her key.One of the aspects of this film that makes it so meaningful is the factthe Kristin Scott Thomas can move so easily between French and English- a small fact, perhaps, as she is totally bilingual, but it helps theaudience to understand her obsession to discover the truth aboutFrance's darkest hour. The supporting cast is excellent and therecreation of WW II Paris is palpably real. This is a brilliant film -one that deserves the attention of every one on so many levels. Grady Harp

2012-04-16 13:19:01

Very Powerful!

My husband and I watched this last week. I had heard such great things about the book, so I was a little worried that the movie would fall short. It didn't!!! We were moved by this movie! So powerful and touching.

Keith Cohen 2012-04-15 20:57:17

Although a wonderful story, it seems to come out in fits and starts. The slow, meandering pace may be a turnoff to those unfamiliar with the novel. Mayance, in her feature film debut, takes the cake in the acting category. Thomas is a...

Matt Pais 2012-04-14 16:56:15

Not really about Sarah or her key.

2012-04-14 01:15:58

The key to cinematic perfection!

There are two reasons why Sarah's Key is one of the best films I've seen in the last 20 years. First is the wonderful combination of direction/screenwriting. The director clearly understood his material and the screenplay is nothing short of brilliant. As we were leaving the theater, I said to my girlfriend, "This is the best use of flashbacks I've ever seen." I was alluding to the seamless interaction between the two plots, the World War II story and the contemporary one. By the end of the film, they are one story.The war story is that of a Jewish family sent to the camps by the French - not the Germans. A little girl locks her younger brother in the closet to save him from being deported with the rest of the family. (The "Key" is the key that opens the closet.) The result is a tragedy from which she never recovers. The modern tale of a couple whose lives become strangely connected to the deported Jewish family allows us to revisit the Holocaust from a fresh perspective. Personally, I found it compelling. What really fascinates me here is that the reviewer in the unimpeachable New York Times wrote this: "Sarah's Key is undone by its very premise: that the two stories it tells can coexist in the same film." Is it possible that this reviewer and I saw two different films? If I were the publisher of the Times and saw that review in my paper, I would waste little time in finding a new reviewer. (I am available.) For me, what the Times reviewer saw as the film's fatal flaw is its most admirable quality. As it shifts from one plot to the other and back again, Sarah's Key is nothing short of captivating. The bottom line is that I was never bored, not for a moment. At one point, I found myself not just crying but weeping uncontrollably. However, I did not come away from Sarah's Key in a mood of depression. Quite the contrary, the film communicated to me that no matter how horrific things get, the life force goes on. The message is ultimately uplifting.The other quality of Sarah's Key that impressed me was the acting, from the top down to the smallest role (the soldier who helps two prisoners escape). The child actor who plays Sarah is simply astounding. But it was Kristin Scott Thomas who really knocked my socks off. This is an actress whom I actively disliked in The English Patient and Four Weddings and a Funeral. After seeing this film, I confess that I must have blamed her for the flaws of the characters she played in those films instead of recognizing the quality of her craft. In Sarah's Key, she turns in one of the finest performances by an actress in recent memory. The intelligence and subtlety of her work is an inspiration to me as an actor (I am a member of Screen Actors Guild). This film should be seen just for her work alone.