DENVER, Sept. 5, 2011 -- Hope was a foolish concept for many Jewish people swept up in the Third Reich’s Final Solution.
In “Sarah’s Key,” the young protagonist not only dares to dream of escape from the Nazis but of reuniting with the brother she left hidden back home.
The French import’s most heart-tugging scenes involve Sarah’s devotion to family. Had the film stuck to her struggle it might have sat proudly next to other World War II-era classics.
But “Sarah’s Key” gives us a second story, that of an American journalist in Paris doing research on France’s role in the Holocaust. And, despite the presence of the gifted Kristin Scott Thomas, the second narrative can’t measure up to Sarah’s tale.
The film opens with the Starzynskis, a Jewish family living in France, being interrogated by Nazi soldiers. It’s clear the clan is about to be taken from their home, so young Sarah Starzynski (Melusine Mayance) hides her little brother in a cupboard and takes the key.
The plan works. The soldiers don't discover Sarah’s brother, but they do move her family to Vel d’Hiv stadium where they’ll be held until space opens up at the nearest concentration camp.
Escape for the Jewish prisoners appears impossible, and the guards won‘t even let young Sarah relieve herself in a dignified fashion. But Sarah simply must find a way back home so she can unlock the cupboard and set her brother free.
The film alternates between Sarah’s plight and that of Julia (Scott Thomas), a Paris-based journalist researching a story on France during World War II. Julia has her own problems to endure, including a shaky marriage and a husband distressed to learn he's about to be a father - again.
Julia’s research reveals a personal connection to Sarah’s story, and the more she investigates her family tree, the further she separates herself from her husband.
Scott Thomas is enjoying a fascinating artistic rebirth. She first got introduced to American audiences through misfires like “Random Hearts” and “The Horse Whisperer.” Today, she spends much of her time in Europe, flaunting her fluent French in winners like “I’ve Loved You So Long” and “Tell No One.“
In “Sarah’s Key,” there’s only so much she can do to give depth to a character in dire need of restructuring. We simply aren’t invested in Julia’s marriage woes, and we care less and less about what her research will reveal next.
We’d much rather spend time with the resourceful Sarah, a character Mayance makes unique within the Holocaust film genre.
Screenwriters Paquet-Brenner and Serge Joncour, working from a novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, treat the material with the proper reverence. More importantly, they don’t bombard the audience with horrific details. We see the shocked looks of parents separated from their children, and witness atrocities to let us fill in the blanks as to what Sarah must endure.
But we also see flickers of human kindness in unexpected places, like a guard who looks past his own bigotry long enough to lend Sarah a hand.
“Sarah’s Key” deserves kudos for tastefully rendering an ugly chapter in French history, but its dual narrative ends up being woefully imbalanced.
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