Posted by Larry Gleeson
A haunting tale of love and reconciliation begins in a small town in Germany in the immediate aftermath of World War I when a young woman mourning the death of her fiancé encounters a mysterious Frenchman laying flowers on her beloved’s grave.
Set in Germany and France in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, (1914-1918), FRANTZ recalls the mourning period that follows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war’s “lost generation”: Anna (21 year-old Paula Beer in a breakthrough performance), a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare, and Adrien (Pierre Niney), a French veteran of the war who shows up mysteriously in her town, placing flowers on Frantz’s grave. Adrien’s presence is met with resistance by the small community still reeling from Germany’s defeat, yet Anna gradually gets closer to the handsome and melancholy young man, as she learns of his deep friendship with Frantz, conjured up in evocative flashbacks.
What follows is a surprising exploration of how Ozon’s characters’ wrestle with their conflicting feelings – survivor’s guilt, anger at one’s losses, the overriding desire for happiness despite everything that has come before, and the longing for sexual, romantic and familial attachments. Ozon drew his inspiration from Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 drama Broken Lullaby, with stunning visual references to painter Caspar David Friedrich.
“Intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying.”
– Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily
“Astonishingly beautiful and inquisitive. it’s impossible to deny the sheer narrative sophistication. Elevated by a quartet of stunning performances ”
– Eric Kohn, IndieWire
“A richly imagined and superbly assembled period piece.”
– Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter
Theatres:
Landmark Nuart Theatre
11272 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Los Angeles, CA 90025
Regal Edwards Westpark 8
3735 Alton Pkwy,
Irvine, CA 92606
Regency Directors Cut Cinema at Rancho Niguel
25471 Rancho Niguel Rd,
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
