Sarah’s Key
Review by Paul Preston
Welcome to Today I Watched…, a series of posts documenting my new challenge – watch a movie a day for the rest of my life. Keep coming back to TheMovieGuys.net to find out what I watch each day…and get my take on it.
When I see a movie that’s a new release in theaters or for home viewing, I’ll give it a proper review in the “Reviews”, otherwise, I’ll write about it here.
April 13, 2017 – Sarah’s Key
When you visit your sister, you watch whatever movie she’s picked up from the library. In this case, it was 2011’s Sarah’s Key. My sister likes inoffensive movies, and Sarah’s Key is certainly that, but the subject matter was a little harsher than I thought it would be for a host who likes to keep it safe with her movie choices.
The main thrust of the film is German occupancy of France in WWII, an unpleasant time for sure, and specifically one of the massive “round-ups” of Jews. Kristin Scott Thomas plays Julia, an American reporter hired to write an article about this time period and becomes fascinated with the former occupants of the apartment she shares with her French husband. The film jumps back and forth between what happened to the former tenants and their daughter Sarah and Julia’s search to find out what became of Sarah after the war.
You can always count on Kristin Scott Thomas for a solid performance, but I feel like she’s not in enough things. Sure enough, I’m not wrong to feel that way ‘cause she hasn’t appeared in a film since 2014. But despite a Best Picture under her belt (The English Patient) and a couple of nominees (Four Weddings and a Funeral & Gosford Park), she just never got as well-known as contemporaries like Emma Thompson or Kate Winslet.
In Sarah’s Key, Thomas delivers again, but I felt that film was a little procedural without a major surprise in the mix. Thomas’ investigation leads her to right about where you’d expect. It’s all solid and painfully sober (it’s directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, although it feels like a John Madden film after he made Shakespeare in Love). There are moments of high drama (crazy high – Sarah had many unpleasant moments in her life) and long stretches of figurin’. If you want a DRAMA (with all caps), this is it.
Directed by: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Release Date: July 21, 2011
Run Time: 111 Minutes
Country: France
Rated: PG-13
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
