Review of Sarah's Key (2010) by Philip P — 23 Nov 2011

As with so many films, I really wanted to read the book this was based on before seeing the film. When I realized this arrived on DVD and Blu-ray this week I could not help but to check it out as the premise is right up my alley, my favorite kind of film.

The large overshadowing mystery that links an event in the past to the present and will forever change the course of our protagonists life is simply intriguing. It is a sweeping, grand kind of movie that don't get made as often as I'd like, but that also keeps the appeal and anticipation for them so great.

"Sarah's Key" is a wonderful and heartbreaking film that chronicles the story of Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas in a quiet and effective performance) an American journalist who is married to a Frenchman and lives in Paris.

She begins work on a story about the Vel d'Hiv round up of Jews that took place in Paris in 1942. The film cuts back and forth between Julia and her investigations and the story of Sarah, a young jewish girl who is somehow linked to the apartment she and her husband are moving into.

The film is able to take a major event in history and paint a portrait of it without giving us a history lesson. This is a story using the events as a background which only ups the interest in the audience as they feel they are being taken inside these events, that we are hearing actual stories that are personal cause and effect from these historical events.

The way in which the mystery plays out is one of believable plausibility as outside factors mirror the past for Julia and she is forced to make life-altering decisions and seems able to do so by drawing on the courage she reveals young Sarah had.

Like "The Reader" this is not a movie really about the Holocaust, but the people that were there and not only how they survived it, but how they lived with themselves after. It also gives light to an almost unknown aspect of French participation in those events.

Bringing this to light is reason enough to see the film, but the strong performanes and captivating story that is wrapped around it only enhance the experience.