Review of Sarah's Key (2010) by William M — 14 Aug 2011

There is a powerful story at the center of Sarah's Key. We know this, because the time it spends actually covering the holocaust is absolutely heartbreaking, well directed, acted, and shot.The problem is, the film chooses instead to focus more on the much less interesting story of a modern journalist dealing with.

..melodrama; the decision to have a baby, husband issues, etc. We believe that her quest wrecks her life but we don't really care. We would much rather see more of Sarah, in a film called Sarah's Key.

Fortunately Kristin Scott Thomas brightens this half of the film with a strong lead performance, but it doesn't change the fact that this not particularly interesting half story distracts from the tragic, and heartbreaking, and very interesting other half.

As a result, the holocaust sections often seem rushed, and every time we begin to feel some real emotion we are rushed back to a far less interesting modern day. If the film had stuck to the tragic story in the past, it would have been truly excellent, although we would have missed Thomas's performance.

Now, instead, we are stuck with an uneven film, with some extraordinarily powerful moments, and a whole lot more uninteresting, (all be it well acted) melodrama.