A journalist in France (Kristin Scott-Thomas) in a rocky marriage becomes obsessed with the fate of a child whose family was arrested, along with thousands of others, during the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup of 1942. What the journalist doesn’t realize is that the little girl’s fate will intersect with her own and change the direction of her life.
Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s film moves back and forth through time, alternately following the girl Sarah (Mélusine Mayance) who protects her younger brother during the family’s arrest, then desperately tries to return to him after escaping from a concentration camp; and the journalist, who learns increasingly distressing facts about the girl and her family, as well as the new apartment that her architect husband is refurbishing.
The story is very straightforward, without cinematic flourishes or stylistic hyperbole, and that works in its favor. It builds tension organically, leading to a scene that is absolutely heartbreaking and haunts everything that happens afterward. There is one more scene with a similar impact near the end of the movie, too, but the later scene acts as a catharsis, for both the characters and the audience.
Having the journalist be American-French lends a certain editorial distance to the drama that aids in framing the historical events in perspective. The Vel’ d’Hiv roundup is considered one of the darkest moments in French history. Some 10,000 Jewish families were arrested and more than three quarters of them were sent to German concentration camps; there were few survivors.
It is a big coincidence that the apartment being renovated has a connection to Sarah’s story, but that simply deepens the journalist’s determination to learn what happened to the girl. It also helps the journalist decide what to do about her rocky marriage.
Despite a few clumsy moments and a general (and inevitable) air of tragedy, Sarah’s Key is a powerful movie. It is more uplifting than one would imagine and is well worth seeing. I feel it is one of the best movies of 2011 (it is a 2011 U.S. release, although it premiered in Europe late last year), and I shall be haunted by some of its images for a long time to come. ☆ ☆ ☆ ½. 16 Sept. 2011.