Sarah’s Key
Cinema Nova, 28/12/2010
Status: Behind by 5 films
Getting into the home stretch now – I can count the number of films I have left to watch this year on one hand… and the number of days I have left to watch them on the other.
Sarah’s Key is a holocaust story with some differences – and a lot of similarities – to other holocaust stories. KRISTEN SCOTT THOMAS (I’ve Loved You So Long, The English Patient) is an American living in Paris, a features journalist investigating French collusion in 1942 when the gendarmerie rounded up and imprisoned French Jews to be delivered to German work camps. She becomes deeply affected by the story of a young girl – Sarah Starsynski – with whom she believes she has a connection.
The two stories are shown in parallel and while the 1942 story is compelling and well done, the contemporary story is over-sentimental, schmaltzy and obvious (despite Kristen Scott Thomas being, as ever, awesome). It felt like it was based on a novel from Oprah’s book club. Because it was.
