One of the more darker moments in French history during Nazi occupation Vel’ D’ Hiv is depicted in the film adaptation of Tatiana de Rosnay’s best seller: Elle S’appelait Sarah. Kristen Scott Thomas plays a journalist who whilst writing a piece about Vel D’ Hiv becomes fascinated with the story of Sarah Starzynski, a young girl who was unable to escape the French police gathering Jews.
All Holocaust/Second world war films are distressing. ‘Sarah’s key’ will undoubtedly be compared to ‘the Pianist’ and ‘The Reader’ for it’s portrayal of the terror through individual tales. It also highlights and brings forward France’s role. The shameful duties of the police and the sympathetic, compassionate acts of French citizens. Like with the ‘The Reader’ youth and responsibility come into focus and immense guilt. It’s hard to really grasp the idea that one government would take such means to try to eradicate a group of people from their society. Cinema has been used as an effective tool to address a moment that still needs attention but it can also be harrowing and unpleasant.
Through following close individual stories viewers are able to digest a large scale disturbing massacre with a close identifiable and sympathetic pace. Kristen Scott Thomas’s role as Julia Jarmond, a writer who becomes obsessed and consumed with the Sarah’s story, is beautifully played and her subtle performance help’s ‘Sarah’s Key’ stay a serious, emotional but historical piece of cinema regarding the Holocaust rather than moving into melodrama territory. Melusine Mayance is outstanding as the young Sarah showing a depth and range as young actress far greater than her child years. ‘Sarah’s Key’ succeeds in conveying the mass genocide of innocents and it’s brutal fashion, underlining the physiological affect of survival guilt and reminds audiences of the catastrophic consequences of ignorant ideas.
Sarah’s determination to survive in order to return to save her brother is well acted. The guilt she feels for her faultless part in his demise is so tense, it transcends into Julia Harmond’s life years later. However the film unfolds in an erratic pace, sliding back and forth between to narratives and period which can be distracting. This may have worked much more cohesive way in the novel. The coupling of Julia’s domestic problems and displacement at her job is often a distraction and can seem trivial in relation to Sarah’s plight. Perhaps Julia’s role as a character is to address how we can be consumed by small pursuits of modern day life.
- Von Von Lamanu
