Elle s'appelait Sarah (2010)

In modern-day Paris, a journalist finds her life becoming entwined with a young girl whose family was torn apart during the notorious Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942.

Director:

Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Writers:

Tatiana De Rosnay (novel), Serge Joncour (screenplay)

Stars:

Kristin Scott Thomas, Mélusine Mayance, Niels Arestrup

5 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Julia Jarmond
Mélusine Mayance	...	Sarah
Niels Arestrup	...	Jules Dufaure
Frédéric Pierrot	...	Bertrand Tezac
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Édouard Tezac
Dominique Frot	...	Geneviève Dufaure
Natasha Mashkevich	...	Mme Starzynski
Gisèle Casadesus	...	Mamé
Aidan Quinn	...	William Rainsferd
Sarah Ber	...	Rachel
Arben Bajraktaraj	...	M. Starzynski
Karina Hin	...	Zoé
James Gerard	...	Mike Bambers
Joseph Rezwin	...	Joshua (as Joe Rezwin)
Kate Moran	...	Alexandra

Storyline

One of the darkest moments in French history occurred in 1942 Paris when French officials rounded up over 10,000 Jews and placed them in local camps. Eventually over 8,000 were sent off to German concentration camps. As 10-year old Sarah and her family are being arrested, she hides her younger brother in a closet. After realizing she will not be allowed to go home, Sarah does whatever she can to get back to her brother. In 2009, a journalist named Julia is on assignment to write a story on the deported Jews in 1942. When she moves into her father-in-law's childhood apartment, she realizes it once belonged to the Strazynski family, and their daughter Sarah.

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Plot Keywords:

apartment | journalist | escape | key | jewish family | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes the past can unlock the future

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material including disturbing situations involving the Holocaust

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Spain]

Country:

France

Language:

French English Italian German Yiddish

Release Date:

22 July 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sarah's Key

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

€10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$115,708, 24 July 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$7,691,700, 4 December 2011

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$17,511,906, 28 August 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hugo Productions,Studio 37,TF1 Droits Audiovisuels

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was the most successful French movie in the Netherlands, due to the popularity of the book on which the film is based, until The Intouchables (2011) took the record.

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Goofs

In the restaurant scene at the end, the Quinn character is seen with his hand over his face. Cut to the child standing in front of glass which reflects Quinn looking straight ahead. Cut back to Quinn with his hand over his face.

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Quotes

Julia Jarmond: And so I write this for you, My Sarah. With the hope that one day, when you're old enough, this story that lives with me, will live with you as well. When a story is told, it is not forgotten. It becomes something else, a memory of who we were; the hope of what we can become.

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Alternate Versions

The UK Blu-ray release has approx 9 minutes cut from the film compared to the French version.

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: Favorite Films Based on Books (2013)

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Soundtracks

A Different Kind of Love
Written by Dick Walter
Performed by Dick Walter

User Reviews

A Perfect Movie

In July, 1942, the French Police breaks in the apartment of the Jewish Starzynski family and arrest them in the Velodrome of Vel' d'Hiv and then in a local concentration camp with other Jewish families. The ten-year-old Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance) hides her little brother Michel in a closet in her bedroom to escape from the police officers but she does not succeed on giving the closet key to a neighbor to rescue her brother. When her parents are transferred to a German concentration camp, Sarah flees from the French guards with another girl and they meet the family of Jules Dufaure (Niels Arestrup) that help her to return to Paris to rescue her younger brother.

In 2009, the American journalist Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas) and her French husband Bertrand Tezac (Frédéric Pierrot) plan to reform his apartment in Paris to live with their teenage daughter. Julia is assigned to write an article about the notorious deportation of French Jews to German concentration camps in 1942. During her investigation, she learns that the apartment of her husband's family belonged to Sarah's family. She becomes obsessed by Sarah's life and to find the fate of the little girl.

I have just bought the Blu-Ray "Elle s'appelait Sarah", a.k.a. "Sarah's Key", and I found it a perfect movie about a shameful and not divulged period of France's history in World War II. The writer Tatiana De Rosnay has written a magnificent novel and Serge Joncour and Gilles Paquet- Brenner have written an engaging screenplay. The director Gilles Paquet- Brenner made a heartbreaking film that is never corny.

Kristin Scott Thomas is one of the best contemporary European actresses and she has another awesome performance in the role of a flawed, stubborn and selfish character that speaks perfect English and French and becomes obsessed to discover the truth about her husband's family. Her charm and elegance is impressive for a forty-nine-year-old woman. But the girl Mélusine Mayance "steals" the movie in the role of Sarah. The cinematography and music score are beautiful and costumes cover different periods and locations. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "A Chave de Sarah" ("The Sarah's Key")