Frantz

The first half of François Ozon's remarkable Frantz is basically a remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1932 pacifist drama Broken Lullaby. Adrien (Pierre Niney), a sad-faced Frenchman, is discovered visiting the grave of Frantz, a young German killed in World War I. Claiming to have been a friend of the dead man, Adrien gradually wins over Frantz's grieving parents (Ernst Stötzner and Marie Gruber) and develops a close relationship with Frantz's fiancée, Anna (Paula Beer), despite the hostility of the townspeople. It will come as no surprise that, as Adrien confesses to Anna, his actual connection to Frantz was very different. Lubitsch's film ended at that point, but Ozon adds a second half in which Adrien returns to France, while Anna, who is obviously in love with Adrien, travels to Paris to look for him, only to discover that things are not quite what she expected. Frantz repeats many of Lubitsch's themes—the horror of war, the reality of grief, and the necessity of forgiveness, as well as the notion that well-meaning deception is sometimes preferable to harsh, brutal truth—but Ozon adds layers of ambiguity to the tale. And his sense of style is nicely displayed in both the impeccable period detail and the shifts from black-and-white to color to reflect changes in emotional states. A beautifully crafted, deeply moving film whose ostensibly placid surface opens to reveal powerful undercurrents of pain, hopefulness, and—ultimately—peace, this is highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a Q&A with director François Ozon (18 min.), deleted scenes (13 min.), a segment from the Venice premiere (6 min.), costume and light tests (4 min.), a poster gallery, and a booklet. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fine foreign drama.] (F. Swietek)