French director Gilles Paquet-Brenner's Sarah's Key—based on the novel by Tatiana De Rosnay—follows the connection between a contemporary expat-American in Paris and the Nazi-sympathetic Vichy regime's infamous July 16, 1942, Vel d'Hiv roundup and imprisonment of Jews. One of the detainees is 10-year-old Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance), who intrigues modern-day journalist Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas), especially since Julia's in-laws benefited from the Starzynski family's deportation, acquiring the apartment that Julia's architect husband, Bertrand (Frédéric Pierrot), is now remodeling. Julia discovers that when the French police barged in, Sarah tried to save her 4-year-old brother by locking him in a secret cupboard just before her family was herded—along with 13,000 others—into Velodrome d'Hiver stadium, where they were kept for three days without adequate food, water, and bathrooms. After that, the members were traumatically separated at the Beaune-la-Roland transit camp for deportation and extermination. Still clutching the key to the closet door and hoping to free her brother, Sarah escapes, winding up on the doorstep of a sympathetic farm couple who take her back to Paris. Moving back and forth in time, the story further develops Sarah's stoic character, taking her into adulthood with a husband (George Birt) and son (Aidan Quinn). A moving Holocaust tale, this is recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” documentary (63 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fine film.] (S. Granger)
Sarah's Key
Anchor Bay, 111 min., PG-13, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99, Nov. 22 Volume 26, Issue 6
Sarah's Key
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