Suite Française (2015)
France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.
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The Worst Film Ever
Absolutely Fantastic
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
I feel like I've seen this story many times before in film. However, on the plus side, Kristin Scott Thomas is on brilliant form as the Mother-in-Law from hell Madame Angellier. You may not like her but you begin to understand her and eventually have some empathy for her. Sam Reilly and Ruth Watson are also extremely watchable as Benoit and Madeleine Labarie. Unfortunately, Alexandra Maria Lara, probably best known as Hitler's secretary in Downfall (parts of which are now mercilessly parodied on YouTube), is sadly underused in this film. Unfortunately, Michelle Williams is woefully miscast as our 'heroine' Lucile Angellier. Williams fails to breathe any life into a character who finds herself trapped in an loveless, arranged marriage. Meanwhile, Matthias Schoenaerts, a wonderful actor, seems distinctly ill at ease as Lieutenant Bruno von Falk. I found their scenes together unconvincing, lacking in chemistry and rather awkward.All in all, not a terrible way to spend a couple of hours, but this film is unlikely to trouble the all time classic films depicting WWII.
I'm sure the book would come across much better than the film, because reading the book would not make you feel dizzy as you feel when watching the film with all the unnecessary hand held wobbly camera shots in the film... Shaky cam strikes again! Grrr. Or shoot the guy that keeps nudging the camera!
Having just read the book for a book group, I looked forward to this. To describe it as a travesty would be too kind. I realise that films can't treat books literally, that they need to translate literary effects into cinematic ones, but this isn't the problem here. Rather it's that the subtleties of the book are ignored by a film which tramples on them with jackboots and despoils the central relationship for no obvious reason. It's a cruel insult to the grace and candour of Irene Nemirovsky, who died in Auschwitz without finishing what might have been the greatest novel of the twentieth century. Read the book instead.
During war time sacrifices have to be made. Some have to do with our private space, some with our personal space too. All dig into our personal life and depending on the person invading (pun somewhat intended) it will lead to different results. So we may be inclined to paint every Nazi as a bad person or just a demon/devil without any depth or sympathy for that person.This movie does try to delve deeper into it and tell a bit of a different story. War is hard on everybody and depending on how your character is developed you'll make decisions that can be qualified as good or bad, be it in hindsight or just judging at the moment. The drama part does work and there are no easy solutions if any at all. Not an easy but an uncomfortable viewing experience which is exactly what it was meant to be