Sarah's Key [Blu-ray]

Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Overview

A tragic and shameful moment in French history continues to have consequences in the present day in this screen adaptation of the novel by Tatiana de Rosnay. Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas) is an American writer living in Paris with her husband, Bertrand (Fr?d?ric Pierrot), an architect who is restoring a block of apartments in Paris owned by his family. Julia learns that Bertrand's family obtained the building through less than honorable means; the original owners were Jews who were forced to sell in the wake of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942, when the Nazi-affiliated Vichy government arrested over 13,000 Parisian Jews. One of the victims was Sarah Starzynski (M?lusine Mayance), a ten-year-old girl who tried to protect her younger brother by locking him in a cupboard in their apartment. Fearing for her brother's safety, Sarah escapes the crowded cycling stadium where the Jews are being held and tries to make her way back home. Julia learns of Sarah's story while doing research on the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, and her investigation teaches her a great deal about an event many in France are reluctant to discuss, as well as the links to Bertrand's family. Elle S'Appelait Sarah (aka Sarah's Key) was, along with La Rafle, one of two films concerning the Vel'd'Hiv Roundup released in France in 2010.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/22/2011
UPC:	0013132369792
Original Release:	2010
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:51:00
Sales rank:	34,016

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kristin Scott Thomas	Actor
Mélusine Mayance	Actor,Actor
Niels Arestrup	Actor
Michel Duchaussoy	Actor
Dominique Frot	Actor
Natasha Mashkevich	Actor
Aidan Quinn	Actor
Sarah Ber	Actor
Arben Bajraktaraj	Actor
Karina Hin	Actor
James Gerard	Actor
Joseph Rezwin	Actor
Kate Moran	Actor
Paul Mercier	Actor
Alexandre Le Provost	Actor
Serpentine Teyssier	Actor
Simon Eine	Actor
Julie Fournier	Actor
Paige Barr	Actor
Joanna Merlin	Actor
Georges Birt	Actor
Vincianne Millereau	Actor,Nathalie Dufaure
Sylviane Frava	Actor
Dan Herzberg	Actor,Voices
Nancy Tate	Actor
Frederick Guillaud	Actor
Maurice Lustyk	Actor
Charlotte Poutrel	Actor
Maxim Driesen	Actor
Xavier Beja	Actor
Jacqueline Noëlle	Actor
Jean-Pierre Hutinet	Actor
Jonathan Kerr	Actor
Matthias Kress	Actor
Franck Beckmann	Actor
Nicolas Seconda	Actor
François d'Aubigny	Actor
Stéphane Charond	Actor
José Fumanal	Actor
Gilles Louzon	Actor
Pierre Nahori	Actor
Sophie Bacry Picciotto	Voices
Christian Vurpillat	Voices
Robert Rotsztein	Voices
Yasmine Ghazarian	Actor
Naeva Lissonnet	Actor
Céline Caussimon	Actor
Claudine Acs	Actor
Viktoria Li	Actor
Loic Risser	Actor
Franck Chailly	Actor
Marco Florio	Actor
Alice Erskine	Actor
Stephanie Gesnel	Actor
Gerard Couchet	Actor
Mark Fairchild	Actor
Melinda Wade	Actor
Frédéric Pierrot	Bertrand Tezac,Actor
Kiley Liddell	Actor,Actor
Gisèle Casadesus	Mamé,Actor
Jacqueline Noelle	Old Lady
Max Richter	Composer

Technical Credits

Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Serge Joncour

Tatiana de Rosnay

Gilles Paquet-Brenner	Director,Screenwriter
Serge Joncour	Screenwriter
Stéphane Marsil	Producer,Producer
Gaetan Rousseau	Executive Producer,Producer
Lionel Closson	Executive Producer
Bill Donnelly	Sound/Sound Designer
Bruno Seznec	Sound/Sound Designer
Alexandre Fleurant	Sound Editor
Louis Zuppardi	Production Manager
Antoine Theron	Production Manager
Fabien Devillers	Sound Mixer,Sound Effects
Manny Siverio	Stunts
Josiane Morand	Script Supervisor
Frederic Marquilly	Sound Editor
Tatiana de Rosnay	Screenwriter
Rodolphe Chabrier	Special Effects
Didier Codoul	Sound Effects
Florian Fabre	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Most of the nations of Europe have some blood on their hands from World War II, but France's legacy in the war is especially complicated, wavering between heroism (the French resistance) and shameful complicity (the Vichy regime that ruled the nation in collaboration with the Nazis from 1940 to 1944). The dichotomy of France's history is especially pronounced when it comes to the movies. While most French films dealing with the war have tried to put a positive spin on what happened, there are a handful that offer a more realistic view of French life under occupation, most notably Louis Malle's Lacombe Lucien and Marcel Ophüls' documentary The Sorrow and the Pity. Gilles Paquet-Brenner's drama Elle S'Appelait Sarah (aka Sarah's Key) joins the ranks of French films that look back honestly to the grim legacy of Vichy, offering a stark reminder of how many were willing to stand by and watch genocide happen, while also pondering how we are to come to terms with the tragedies of our collective past. Sarah's Key follows two parallel stories, separated by more than 50 years yet connected by the actions of a few characters. Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas) is an American journalist living in 21st century Paris with her husband, Bertrand (Frédéric Pierrot), and his daughter from a previous marriage. Julia is working on a magazine piece about the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942, in which the Vichy government used French police to gather together 13,000 Jews living in Paris, crammed them into a cycling stadium for several days without food, water, or toilets, and then shipped them off to concentration camps, where they would be executed. As Julia is researching the story, she discovers there's a connection between the roundup and her husband's family -- Bertrand's father first moved into the apartment building they own today after a Jewish family was forced out by the police. The story hits even closer to home for Julia as Bertrand has just renovated a flat in the same building, where he intends for them to live. Determined to know more, Julia begins tracking down the story of the family who used to live there, and in flashback we meet Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance), a nine-year-old girl who tried to hide her younger brother from the authorities by locking him in the closet when the police arrived to round up Jewish families. When she realizes that she and her folks are not going to be released soon, she becomes grimly determined to make her way back to Paris and save her brother before it's too late. As we follow Sarah's story, Julia learns the truth about her in-laws and their role in Sarah's fate, and at the same time, Julia is confronted with a serious crisis in her marriage. Kristin Scott Thomas has been living in France for some time and has been landing more satisfying roles in European films than those made in America, and Sarah's Key demonstrates that, at least creatively speaking, this has been good for her. There aren't many movies made in the United States lately that deal with a smart woman in her early fifties dealing with personal and professional challenges while looking beautiful but also clearly her own age, and that's just what Thomas gets to do in Sarah's Key. Though her New York accent is sometimes a bit off, Thomas otherwise never makes a wrong step, and her compassion, curiosity, and determination make Julia the ideal anchor for this story. While Julia provides the framework that holds the threads of the story together, ultimately this is Sarah's story, and Mélusine Mayance gives a fierce, committed performance that would be impressively intense for any actor, let alone one so young, and Charlotte Poutrel gives the same character a fascinating, enigmatic beauty as an adult. Niels Arestrup and Dominique Frot are very good as a farming couple who become Sarah's reluctant benefactors, and Aidan Quinn shines in a small role as Sarah's long-lost son. Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner wrote the screenplay for Sarah's Key in collaboration with Serge Joncour, adapting the story from Tatiana de Rosnay's novel, and for the most part they do a splendid job of mixing and matching the two primary narrative threads, allowing Sarah's story to inform Julia's while each also stands on its own. The film's final act seems like an effort to add a third path that merges the two, and it's not nearly as effective; however, Paquet-Brenner's pacing remains fluid and he draws consistently fine work from his cast. He's also aided by a top-notch crew, particularly cinematographer Pascal Ridao and production designer Françoise Dupertuis, who help give the picture an uncluttered but realistic look. Sarah's Key takes a stark look at Vichy France and its legacy; there are rather few true heroes or thorough villains, as most characters are just struggling to make their way through a difficult and dangerous time, and often they are simply trying to save themselves when conscience occasionally forces them to step forward for others. In Sarah's Key, few people are truly innocent, but there's little to gain from ignoring the past, and a willingness to search out the truth proves to be rewarding for these characters as well as the audience watching them.