Film Snail

Sarah's Key
Sarah's Key

7.3

Sarah's Key

PG-13·2010·111m

Summary

On the night of 16 July 1942, ten year old Sarah and her parents are being arrested and transported to the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris where thousands of other jews are being sent to get deported. Sarah however managed to lock her little brother in a closet just before the police entered their apartment. Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist in Paris, gets the assignment to write an article about this raid, a black page in the history of France. She starts digging archives and through Sarah's file discovers a well kept secret about her own in-laws.

Cast

Kristin Scott Thomas

Kristin Scott Thomas

Julia Jarmond

Mélusine Mayance

Mélusine Mayance

Sarah Starzynski, child

Niels Arestrup

Niels Arestrup

Jules Dufaure

Frédéric Pierrot

Frédéric Pierrot

Bertrand Tezac

Michel Duchaussoy

Michel Duchaussoy

Edouard Tezac

Dominique Frot

Dominique Frot

Genneviève Dufaure

Natasha Mashkevich

Natasha Mashkevich

Rywka Starzynski

Gisèle Casadesus

Gisèle Casadesus

Mamé Tezac

Aidan Quinn

Aidan Quinn

William Rainsferd

Sarah Ber

Sarah Ber

Rachel

Arben Bajraktaraj

Arben Bajraktaraj

Wladyslaw Starzynski

James Gerard

James Gerard

Mike Bambers

Joseph Rezwin

Joseph Rezwin

Joshua

Kate Moran

Kate Moran

Alexandra

Paul Mercier

Michel Starzynski

Alexandre Le Provost

Alexandre Le Provost

Plainclothes policeman

Serpentine Teyssier

Serpentine Teyssier

Mrs Royer

Simon Eine

Simon Eine

Franck Levy

Julie Fournier

Julie Fournier

Anna

Paige Barr

Paige Barr

Ornella Harris

Joanna Merlin

Joanna Merlin

Mrs. Rainsferd

George Birt

George Birt

Richard Rainsferd

Vinciane Millereau

Vinciane Millereau

Nathalie Dufaure

Sylviane Fraval

Sylviane Fraval

Colette

Dan Herzberg

Dan Herzberg

Jacques

Nancy Tate

Nancy Tate

Alice

Frédérick Guillaud

Frédérick Guillaud

Richard Rainsferd, young

Maurice Lustyk

Man with violin

Charlotte Poutrel

Charlotte Poutrel

Sarah Starzynski, adult

Maxim Driesen

Maxim Driesen

Edouard Tezac, child

Xavier Beja

Xavier Beja

André Tezac

Jacqueline Noëlle

Jacqueline Noëlle

Old woman

Jean-Pierre Hutinet

Jean-Pierre Hutinet

Village doctor

Jonathan Kerr

Jonathan Kerr

Camp police officer

Matthias Kress

Matthias Kress

German officer at farm

Franck Beckmann

Franck Beckmann

German officer in train

Nicolas Seconda

Gendarme Vel d'Hiv

François d'Aubigny

Gendarme Vel d'Hiv

Stéphane Charond

Camp gendarme

José Fumanal

José Fumanal

Camp gendarme

Gilles Louzon

Gilles Louzon

Camp gendarme

Pierre Nahori

Pierre Nahori

Policeman in train

Yasmine Ghazarian

Yasmine Ghazarian

Camp woman

Naëva Lissonnet

Naëva Lissonnet

Little girl in camp

Céline Caussimon

Céline Caussimon

Nurse Vel d'Hiv

Claudine Acs

Claudine Acs

Hysterical woman Vel d'Hiv

Viktoria Li

Viktoria Li

Clinical nurse

Loïc Risser

Loïc Risser

Male nurse

Franck Chilly

Stretcher-bearer

Marco Florio

Marco Florio

Italian waiter

Alice St. Clair

Alice St. Clair

Mozart Cafe Waitress

Stéphanie Gesnel

Stéphanie Gesnel

Young woman at the window

Gérard Couchet

Gérard Couchet

Old man at the window

Mark Fairchild

Bob Rainsferd

Melinda Wade

Melinda Wade

Young blonde American woman

Kiley Liddell

Kiley Liddell

Sarah Starzynski, baby

Brooke Liddell

Brooke Liddell

Sarah Starzynski, baby

Sophie Bacry Picciotto

Sophie Bacry Picciotto

(voice)

Christian Vurpillot

Christian Vurpillot

(voice)

Robert Rotsztein

(voice)

Tatiana De Rosnay

Tatiana De Rosnay

Client in restaurant (uncredited)

Ludovic Louis

Ludovic Louis

Trumpet player (uncredited)

Eric Moreau

Eric Moreau

Gendarme (uncredited)

Anoushka Rava

Anoushka Rava

Italian woman (uncredited)

Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Crew

Director, Screenplay

Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Novel

Tatiana De Rosnay

Screenplay

Serge Joncour

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

April 13, 2024

7

Gilles Paquet-Brenner has put together quite an engaging cast to tell this story of a woman with an hitherto unknown family history. "Julia" (Dame Kristen Scott Thomas) is a journalist with a French magazine who is assigned to write a story of the infamous rounding-up and deportation of the Jewish population of Paris in 1942. By chance, she and her husband are looking to move into his father's spacious apartment and she discovers something of it's history. It was rented, once, to the "Strazynski" family who were victims of that heinous event. As "Julia" begins to investigate further, she finds herself immersed in a poignant story of a family who made some fairly horrific sacrifices so that at least one of them could survive the atrocities to come. It was the young sister "Sarah" (Mélusine Mayance) who came up with the idea of hiding her brother "Michel" (Paul Mercier) in a cupboard. Once interred, though, she was terrified that he could be left alone, or found, or worse - so with the help of a sympathetic French guard manages to make her way, with a friend, to the farm of "Jules" (Niels Arsetrup) where he and his wife offer her protection from her persecutors and essentially treat her as their own. "Julia" now focusses on what happened next, discovering things perilously close to home as she goes along. Though Dame Kristen does well enough here, it's really the young Mayance who steals the scenes. Her performance as the young girl determined to rescue her sibling delivers the real thrust of just how indiscriminate the persecution of her people was. Age, sex, infirmity - the Nazis didn't care and that attitude is briefly, but well extolled, by images of folks on trains like cattle in transit. There must be loads of similar stories to be told like this, but this one is imaginatively photographed, thoughtfully paced and well worth a watch.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

French

Budget:

$10,000,000.00

Revenue:

$17,511,906.00

Keywords

survivor's guilt
good people