Reviewed by Brian M Downing
Director: François Ozon
Stars: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer
Rating: 8/10
A year after the end of World War One, a German town is grieving over the casualties and defeat. Most families have lost a family member or two. A young Frenchman, Adrien, is seen placing flowers at the grave of a young man, Frantz Hoffmeister, who was killed late in the war.
The dead soldier’s fiancée, Anna, asks the man about his interest and he replies that he knew Frantz in Paris before the war. They were students who enjoyed music and paintings. She invites him to visit the Hoffmeister home and Adrien meets Frantz’s parents. They all enjoy hearing about Frantz in those days.
Later as Anna talks more with Adrien, he’s clearly distraught and he finally reveals that he killed Frantz late in the war and took his papers which contained letter and his home address.
Anna declines to tell the Hoffmeisters about Adrien and Frantz as she sees they enjoy the stories of his prewar days. After Adrien goes back to France, she continues to tell them stories from non-existent letters from Adrien. She travels to Paris to discover more about Frantz and Adrien. While there, she attends a performance of Scheherazade, the fable about a woman who tells stories to stay alive.
The film was almost certainly inspired by a scene in All Quiet on the Western Front in which a German soldier kills a French soldier, looks through his papers, and promises to visit his parents after the war.
Copyright 2019 Brian M Downing