Sarah’s Key (Pacquet – Brenner, 2010): France

Reviewed by Larry Gleeson. Viewed on January 27, 2010 at the Arlington Theatre, 8 P.M., at  the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2011.

Sarah‘s Key starring Kristin Scott Thomas as Julia Armond tells a horrific Holocaust story of a young Polish gir, played exquisitely by Melusane Mayance,  who is forcefully and unwillingly  relocated and imprisoned in a Nazi death camp during WWII. Thomas plays a investigative journalist working out of an office in Paris and uncovers a connection between the girl and Armond ‘s family by marriage.

Thomas delivers a performance of remarkable resolve and determination with grace and beauty. Melusane Mayance  gives an unforgettable performance. Her physicalizations, costumes and delivery hit the mark. In my opinion, not only does she hold her own with Kristin Scott Thomas, but in many respects outperforms the Hollywood star. Mayance imparts a strong force of intensity and emotion to Sarah that at times is missing in Thomas.

The story covers several decades from the late 1930’s to the present. Armond discovers her husband’s father was a prison guard at the displacement camp where Sarah and her parents were placed. The mise-en-scene at the displacement camp depicted the facility and the unsanitary conditions much like the Louisiana Superdome in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Sarah had hidden her younger brother during the round up in a wall closet. The story escalates when Sarah realizes she must return to rescue her brother from certain death as she locked the closet with a key. Sarah’s through action from this point until she returns to the apartment and finds her brother’s corpse is epic.

I saw repetition in the form of the prison guard who represents Armond’s father-in-law. First we see Sarah scrambling in the holding facility and drops the key. As she reaches for it the guard steps on Sarah’s hand. A short while later Sarah has dropped an apple and again as she grasps the apple the guard steps on her hand again – a slight variation. In the third episode we see Sarah and her friend attempting to escape. The same guard catches them at the fence. Sara pleads to the guard her case. She must go back to her family’s apartment as she needs to tend to her little brother who is imprisoned in the wall closet. The guard relents and raises the bottom of the fence to enable the young girls to escape.

Sarah displays an uncanny ability to survive and enlists the aid of an elderly German couple who eventually adopt and begin to raise Sarah as their own daughter. The couple dress Sarah as a boy and board a train to speed back to Sarah’s upper middle class neighborhood. Sarah’s boyish look is so convincing, another passenger comments to the wife, “That’s a nice looking boy.”

After finding her brother, Sarah seems to alter drastically. After a few years she leaves her adoptive parents leaving only a note. She develops into an attractive woman who marries and has offspring. Nevertheless, she eventually takes her own life.

Armond so powerfully feels for Sarah’s plight she embarks on a roller coaster ride delving into the past. Meanwhile she has become pregnant and is conflicted as to whether she wants to raise a child within her family. She contemplates abortion.

By the film’s end we see Armond in a New York coffee house meeting with Sarah’s grandson, played by the apt Aidan Quinn. Sarah has left her husband and has given birth to a daughter – whom she given the name Sarah.

This film was extremely well done. The editing appeared seamless. The cinematography was outstanding. And the acting was superb.

I saw the film primarily because I enjoy the work of Kristin Scott Thomas. I got what I was looking for and a whole lot more. Highly recommended.