Frantz (2016)

In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious Frenchman who visits the fiancé's grave to lay flowers.

Director:

François Ozon

Writers:

François Ozon (scenario), Philippe Piazzo (in collaboration with)

Stars:

Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stötzner

7 wins & 35 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pierre Niney	...	Adrien Rivoire
Paula Beer	...	Anna
Ernst Stötzner	...	Doktor Hans Hoffmeister
Marie Gruber	...	Magda Hoffmeister
Johann von Bülow	...	Kreutz
Anton von Lucke	...	Frantz Hoffmeister
Cyrielle Clair	...	La mère d'Adrien
Alice de Lencquesaing	...	Fanny
Axel Wandtke	...	Le réceptionniste de l'hôtel
Rainer Egger	...	Le gardien du cimetière allemand
Rainer Silberschneider	...	Le vendeur de la robe
Merlin Rose	...	Le jeune homme ivre
Ralf Dittrich	...	Adolf
Michael Witte	...	Gustav
Lutz Blochberger	...	L'homme du lac

Storyline

In 1919 Quedlinburg, Germany, a young woman named Anna is still mourning the death of her fiance, Frantz Hoffmeister, in the Great War while living with his equally devastated parents. One day, a mysterious Frenchman, Adrien Rivoire, comes to town both to pay his respects to Frantz's grave and to contact that soldier's parents. Although it is difficult for both sides with the bitterness of Germany's defeat, Adrian explains that he knew Frantz and gradually he wins Anna and the Hoffmeisters' hearts as he tries to connect with them. Unfortunately, Adrien and Anna discover the truth of his motives and things seem shattered for all. However, when Adrien leaves, Anna has her own struggles with the truth and her feelings until she sets out to find Adrien in France. With that, Anna has her own journey to make in more than one sense, even as they both realize that neither have easy answers to their complex personal conflicts with each other and the dead man linking them.

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Plot Keywords:

world war one | post world war one | guilty conscience | year 1919 | grave | 

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Genres:

Drama | History | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including brief war violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

In German, the titular name is usually spelled "Franz". The film's title, "Frantz", is a frequent misspelling by French speakers, so the title serves as a nod to the fact that the titular character is supposed to be a francophile and therefore he might have preferred that spelling, not to mention it sounds similar to "France".

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Goofs

A train seen crossing overhead is clearly powered by an American-made steam locomotive, and on the tender directly following it, the logo shape is that of the Chicago & North Western Railroad, which obviously didn't operate in Europe.

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Connections

Remake of Broken Lullaby (1932)

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Soundtracks

Le suicidé
Composed & Conducted By Philippe Rombi
Performed by Orchestre Symphonique Bel'Arte
(p) 2016 Cristal Records
Label BORIGINAL - Distribution Sony

User Reviews

I love the change of Ozon

I am a big fan of Ozon. To me, watching his movie feels like there is always a dagger underneath the pictures, in a stunning and good way. Frantz changed my whole ideas about him, I love his changes.

Have you ever seen those Chinese paper cut before? They use scissors to create all wonderful flowers and animals from red papers. It is fragile, beautiful, your heart will go with the sharp edges and afraid the damages might happen. To me , this whole new 'Scissor' feelings of Ozon's movie is way more deeper and exciting than his old 'dagger' skills. The dagger is exciting and thrill, yet scissor brings more possibility.

I love the use of Korsakov's 'Scheherazade' in the movie. Scheherazade is trying to escape horrible killing might happened by telling colourful stories to the king. Using pretty stuff to escape the horrible reality might be the biggest achievement of arts. Even it is a painting about death.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook (French) Official Facebook (German)

Country:

France Germany

Language:

French German

Release Date:

15 March 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frantz

Filming Locations:

Görlitz, Saxony, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,745, 19 March 2017

Gross USA:

$880,883

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,478,354

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mandarin Films, X-Filme Creative Pool, FOZ

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1