This film stars Kristin Scott Thomas, whom I seriously see in more French films than English ones nowadays; I think this is growing on me. Based on a bestselling book, the movie begins in the era of World War 2, where young Jewish Sarah’s family is broken up in a raid. She has a key to a secret room where her little brother hides during the raid. He is separated from the family and Sarah anguishes over this and does what she can as a small girl to return to him.
In the present, Julia (Scott Thomas), a magazine writer, discovers some of Sarah’s story, and how it relates to her (Julia’s) French husband’s family, who currently own the apartment Sarah once lived in. She hunts down historical records and speaks to people who don’t want to say anything to her, and eventually finds out what happens to Sarah’s family. Aidan Quinn has a small part.
While Scott Thomas does a good job, I found this story of the best-selling book vein, that is, grand and historic top ten list type of stuff, which is not my thing. More of the past events involving Sarah and the years when she grows up need to be shown to us, and not just serve as a backdrop to Julia's search. The film does remind us how the French, not just Germans, persecuted the Jews, which is not often depicted in pop culture.
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