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“Truth has a price, whether you like it or not.” For journalist Julia Jarmon, played brilliantly by Kristin Scott Thomas, seeking the truth comes with a bittersweet price in the moving drama Sarah’s Key by director Gilles Paquet-Brenner (Walled In).

Paris 1942. A Jewish family is rounded up with thousands of others by French police and forcibly crammed in a holding area without any water, food, or working toilets. Eventually the Starzynskis are separated with the adults being shipped off to Auschwitz. The children are kept behind, including little Sarah Starzynski (Melusine Mayance) whose determination to live is fueled by her unyielding desire to escape and return to Paris to save her younger brother.

Paris 2009. Jarmon is an American journalist working on a piece about a little-known round-up of Jews during World War II. Her younger contemporaries don’t have a clue and cannot understand her passion to flesh out every last detail of the story. Jarmon’s assignment hits close to home when she slowly unlocks a secret her French husband’s family has kept hidden since the war. She soon becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Sarah, which strains a family life already complicated by a fight with her husband over whether or not she should keep her unexpected pregnancy.

The events in Sarah’s Key are based on a dark page in French history. On July 16–17, 1942, “Operation Spring Breeze” was launched by Paris police under Nazi decree. The operation’s goal was to reduce the Jewish population living in Paris through mass arrest. According to official records, over 13,000 Jews, mainly women and children were first detained at a bicycling racetrack and stadium called Vélodrome d'Hiver (“Winter Velodrome”). They were next moved to an internment camp at Drancy before being shipped to Auschwitz for extermination.

All you have to do is take a look at such films as I’ve Loved You So Long, Gosford Park, and The English Patient to know that Thomas is one of her generation’s best actresses. She always makes you forget who she is and gives her characters a genuine believability. Thomas infuses a true sense of strength into Jarmon while also showing her vulnerabilities.

Mayance is equally brilliant on the screen as a gutsy little girl whose innocence is lost by tragedies so horrific that her soul is damaged forever.

The most riveting portions of Sarah’s Key take place during the flashbacks to 1942. This wasn’t surprising considering the subject matter and its historical context. Furthermore, the direction is superb as Paquet-Brenner captures with heart-wrenching emotion the brutal inhumanity Jewish families had to endure in Paris.

It is during the modern day part of the story where Sarah’s Key falters a bit. The fight between Jarmon and her husband, played with blandness by Frederic Pierrot, fails to grab attention and seems insignificant compared to Jarmon’s search for Sarah. It’s almost a distraction.

In the end, the truth is that Sarah’s Key is one film you shouldn’t miss.

On a letter grade scale from “A” being excellent to “F” for failing Sarah’s Key receives a B+.

Sarah’s Key is rated PG-13 and has a running time of 111 minutes.

Now showing through August 25 @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square
4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for more information. 

Glenwood Arts
9575 Metcalf
Overland Park, KS
Visit www.fineartsgroup.com or call 913-642-4404 for more information.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.

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