Flawless work by the cast make this watch an emotion inducing one. It's a people story full of artistic expressions. Great visuals to portray how lives changed. A chronicle on what people saw, felt and had to live through in a time of death. Farewell Mr. Haffmann is for the keen minds to revisit history and admire the strange ways of human mind the fountain of persona.
10 Reviews
Clever storyline with a lot of twists and turns
TrevorHickman9 April 2022
Set in 1941 the film is mostly set in the jewelry shop of Mr Haffman. As such it could almost be a stage play. It is atmospherically filmed (with plenty of suspense) and the audience becomes closely involved with the characters.
The character development is clever with the audience's sympathy moving away away from the protagonist as the story develops. I really enjoyed the plot twists with several really clever reveals that added excellent depth to the story.
Sara Giraudeau is fabulous as Blanche.
The character development is clever with the audience's sympathy moving away away from the protagonist as the story develops. I really enjoyed the plot twists with several really clever reveals that added excellent depth to the story.
Sara Giraudeau is fabulous as Blanche.
A simple storyline that is a worthwile watch thanks to the excellent acting
Erik_Surewaard8 July 2023
Based on a stage play, this movie is a fictious story of the unsafe situation of jews in WW2 occupied Paris.
The story takes place over the period from early 1941 - not long after the Nazi's occupied part of France - until the end of 1942. It focusses on a jewish jeweler and a french family.
Since the story is based on a stage play, it takes place on a very small area: i.e. Mainly the building in which the jewelry (work)shop is located. So you will not see anything from occupied Paris. Neither will you see much military action or many WW2 props.
Overall, I think it is a basic story which does't provide or educted you on significant events that took place during WW2.
The very excellent roleplay that the actors treat you with, will make this movie still a worthwile viewing experience. Their acting is of such level that they were able to keep my attention fully caught on the events.
Concluding, I score this movie with 6.3/10, resulting in a IMDb rating of 6 stars.
The story takes place over the period from early 1941 - not long after the Nazi's occupied part of France - until the end of 1942. It focusses on a jewish jeweler and a french family.
Since the story is based on a stage play, it takes place on a very small area: i.e. Mainly the building in which the jewelry (work)shop is located. So you will not see anything from occupied Paris. Neither will you see much military action or many WW2 props.
Overall, I think it is a basic story which does't provide or educted you on significant events that took place during WW2.
The very excellent roleplay that the actors treat you with, will make this movie still a worthwile viewing experience. Their acting is of such level that they were able to keep my attention fully caught on the events.
Concluding, I score this movie with 6.3/10, resulting in a IMDb rating of 6 stars.
The viewer gets into the souls of the three principal characters
steiner-sam3 July 2022
It's a drama set in Paris, France, beginning in May 1941 and extending into late 1942. It follows the story of a Jewish-owned jewelry shop after the Germans have taken over Paris.
Joseph Haffmann (Daniel Auteuil) is a successful middle-aged jeweler of great skill. When he sees signs stating all Jews need to report for a census, he sends his wife and three children to a safer area in Vichy France. François Mercier (Gilles Lellouche) is Haffmann's recently-hired French assistant. Mercier is an unhappy man who could not serve in the army because of a bad leg that requires a brace. He is also despondent because, after several years of marriage, he cannot have children with his wife, Blanche (Sara Giraudeau). The doctors have indicated Blanche is healthy, so François blames himself.
Haffmann concocts a scheme to save his business during the German occupation by "selling" it to Mercier, with the understanding he will repurchase the shop after the war. He promises to help Mercier then set up his own shop. Mercier agrees though Blanche is skeptical. However, Haffmann is foiled in his efforts to follow his family and is forced to hide with the Merciers, who have already moved into Haffmann's home above the shop.
The film then follows the difficult changes in the relationship between Haffmann and the Merciers, especially since a German Commandant named Jünger (Nikolai Kinski) becomes a major customer of the store. Relationships deteriorate until a surprise allows for a righteous ending.
"Adieu Monsieur Haffmann" is perhaps the best film I've seen this year. The acting, direction, and cinematography, are all excellent. The righteous ending seems a little improbable and subtracts my rating from a 10 to a 9. The viewer gets into the souls of the three principal characters. The film is derived from a play, so almost all the action takes place in one building. Highly recommended.
Joseph Haffmann (Daniel Auteuil) is a successful middle-aged jeweler of great skill. When he sees signs stating all Jews need to report for a census, he sends his wife and three children to a safer area in Vichy France. François Mercier (Gilles Lellouche) is Haffmann's recently-hired French assistant. Mercier is an unhappy man who could not serve in the army because of a bad leg that requires a brace. He is also despondent because, after several years of marriage, he cannot have children with his wife, Blanche (Sara Giraudeau). The doctors have indicated Blanche is healthy, so François blames himself.
Haffmann concocts a scheme to save his business during the German occupation by "selling" it to Mercier, with the understanding he will repurchase the shop after the war. He promises to help Mercier then set up his own shop. Mercier agrees though Blanche is skeptical. However, Haffmann is foiled in his efforts to follow his family and is forced to hide with the Merciers, who have already moved into Haffmann's home above the shop.
The film then follows the difficult changes in the relationship between Haffmann and the Merciers, especially since a German Commandant named Jünger (Nikolai Kinski) becomes a major customer of the store. Relationships deteriorate until a surprise allows for a righteous ending.
"Adieu Monsieur Haffmann" is perhaps the best film I've seen this year. The acting, direction, and cinematography, are all excellent. The righteous ending seems a little improbable and subtracts my rating from a 10 to a 9. The viewer gets into the souls of the three principal characters. The film is derived from a play, so almost all the action takes place in one building. Highly recommended.
What a powerful movie
marilyefr16 April 2022
Movies on Holocaust are always very emotional but this one is even more loaded with all kinds of emotions. The characters just jump out of the screen and become a part of your life too. It takes a very good script, an excellent direction and larger-than-life actors to achieve that.
Great direction!
dolbydix18 March 2022
Severely lacking in true drama, thrill and suspense. What's left?
imseeg3 May 2023
I am beginning to wonder that the great French actor Daniel Auteuil has hit lower ground with his recent choices for the movies he is starring in. Daniel Auteuil used to be a sure bet that you were gonna see a solid movie, but times have changed, so it seems...
The bad: this movie is dressing up to be a dramatic movie about war refugees, but what it ends up being is a cheap copycat.
Every technical detail (set, photography, sound) is below average. But what's worse is that the acting performances are lacking in spark and punch. There simply is no actor's chemisty.
This looks and feels like a cheaply made television movie. Bummer. Expected a lot more from it...
The bad: this movie is dressing up to be a dramatic movie about war refugees, but what it ends up being is a cheap copycat.
Every technical detail (set, photography, sound) is below average. But what's worse is that the acting performances are lacking in spark and punch. There simply is no actor's chemisty.
This looks and feels like a cheaply made television movie. Bummer. Expected a lot more from it...
Beautiful and thoughtful movie
mhs-4505924 June 2023
This film had my complete attention from start to finish. Very well acted and full of ironic twists. For me, this movie was a profound exploration of the moral dilemmas that people face in times of crisis. With many movies these days, especially American movies, you more or less know within about ten minutes where the story is going. Not so with Farewell Mr. Haffman. It's a film that makes you examine yourself and wonder what you would do in such a situation. Great acting by all three of the main characters, so much so that you forget the actors and become totally absorbed in the characters they are portraying. I love movies set in this period, but this one is also exceptionally well directed and acted.
Farwell Mr Haffmann - Harrowing Times
krocheav6 February 2023
Exploring some of the bizarre, darker aspects of the human condition during occupation, this modern drama displays French cinema at its finest. Director Fred Cavaye brings starkly to life a story by Jean Philippe Daguerre, dealing with those shocking years of the Nazi occupation of France. The sickening French collaborators, the inhumanity of innocent families lives being sacrificed to an inhumane regime, and the uncertainty of what might remain in the years to follow.
All performances are uniformly sterling (especially Sara Giraudeau as the perplexed wife) as is the dynamic cinematography by Denis Rouden - making this above-average production riveting from beginning to its somewhat ironic finale. It's rounded off by a thoughtful music score from Christophe Julian.
At times it's perhaps a difficult watch and some plot development might seem a bit forced, but eventually offers some rich rewards. Recommended for contemporary History devotees and studies of human relationships.
All performances are uniformly sterling (especially Sara Giraudeau as the perplexed wife) as is the dynamic cinematography by Denis Rouden - making this above-average production riveting from beginning to its somewhat ironic finale. It's rounded off by a thoughtful music score from Christophe Julian.
At times it's perhaps a difficult watch and some plot development might seem a bit forced, but eventually offers some rich rewards. Recommended for contemporary History devotees and studies of human relationships.
Lacombe Lucien in a jeweller's workshop.
ulicknormanowen27 September 2022
As revisionism is running rampant in Europa , films such as "l'homme de la cave " (also feat Auteuil) and "Adieu Monsieur Haffmann" are deeply appropriate to our times,appropriate in a way that recent works like "une jeune fille qui va bien " are not.
The depiction of occupied Paris in those darker hours of the twentieth century is uncompromising : the milice and the collaborators, the gendarmes -the story takes place in 1941,the year before the the roundup of Jews in the Paris Velodrome d'hiver-, checking the identity papers , the piles of informers' letters in the offices , the jewels stolen from the deported -where do they come from ? Asks the jeweller hidden in his cellar :the moment when he discovers among them his old friend's pendant is harrowing- , women sleeping with the enemy to get them ,the growing terror of the Jews : although he does not know the existence of the concentration camps ,the jeweller asks himself :"they are going to work in Germany? These old men???"
Some people will blame the director for showing the warts and all of the occupied France: the characters are either afraid (the butcher/smuggler) or profiteers , a la "Lacombe Lucien ": what's the matter,if he's not part of the milice ? Like Louis Malle's hero,he "protects "a Jew ,but,slowly and inexorably, he realizes he can own the workshop and drink champagne in the parties with the German ; like Joseph Losey's "Monsieur Klein" who would buy the Jews' valuable paintings for a song ,the employee understands his time may have come: this is a huis clos , most of the action taking place in a workshop or in a cellar where the owner becomes ,little by little, a prisoner ."I'll pay you what you used to give me "(when you were the boss); no humiliation is spared the jeweller : as his former employee is sterile, he wants him to get his wife pregnant .
Playing with fire may be dangerous : note the similarities -on a smaller scale- with the ending of "Monsieur Klein"!
Extremely well acted by Gilles Lellouche as the unscrupulous employee,Sara Giraudeau as the bewildered wife ,and Daniel Auteuil who perhaps needed this role to make up for the hateful hero of "l'homme de la cave" :he's another "man in the cellar" after all.
The depiction of occupied Paris in those darker hours of the twentieth century is uncompromising : the milice and the collaborators, the gendarmes -the story takes place in 1941,the year before the the roundup of Jews in the Paris Velodrome d'hiver-, checking the identity papers , the piles of informers' letters in the offices , the jewels stolen from the deported -where do they come from ? Asks the jeweller hidden in his cellar :the moment when he discovers among them his old friend's pendant is harrowing- , women sleeping with the enemy to get them ,the growing terror of the Jews : although he does not know the existence of the concentration camps ,the jeweller asks himself :"they are going to work in Germany? These old men???"
Some people will blame the director for showing the warts and all of the occupied France: the characters are either afraid (the butcher/smuggler) or profiteers , a la "Lacombe Lucien ": what's the matter,if he's not part of the milice ? Like Louis Malle's hero,he "protects "a Jew ,but,slowly and inexorably, he realizes he can own the workshop and drink champagne in the parties with the German ; like Joseph Losey's "Monsieur Klein" who would buy the Jews' valuable paintings for a song ,the employee understands his time may have come: this is a huis clos , most of the action taking place in a workshop or in a cellar where the owner becomes ,little by little, a prisoner ."I'll pay you what you used to give me "(when you were the boss); no humiliation is spared the jeweller : as his former employee is sterile, he wants him to get his wife pregnant .
Playing with fire may be dangerous : note the similarities -on a smaller scale- with the ending of "Monsieur Klein"!
Extremely well acted by Gilles Lellouche as the unscrupulous employee,Sara Giraudeau as the bewildered wife ,and Daniel Auteuil who perhaps needed this role to make up for the hateful hero of "l'homme de la cave" :he's another "man in the cellar" after all.
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