Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key (French: Elle s'appelait Sarah) is a French drama starring Kristen Scott Thomas and follows her journalist's present day investigation into the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, and a story of a young girl's experiences during the Nazi occupation of France. It is an adaptation of the novel Elle s'appelait Sarah by Tatiana de Rosnay and has been critically well-received, currently holding an 88% fresh rating on the film review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes

Movie Synopsis
In the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, 10-year-old Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance) denies to the authorities carrying out the roundup that her little brother Michel is at home, and locks him in a closet, to protect him. She tells him to stay there, and wait until she returns. She takes the key with her, when she and her parents are transported to the Vel' d'Hiv.

When a woman plans on escaping Vel' d'Hiv by sneaking past the guards, Sarah wants to give her the key so she can rescue Michel, but her father does not think she will succeed, and is therefore against it. To his surprise she succeeds, and he regrets that he has not given the key to the woman. Judging that his son's fate in the closet is even worse than being deported too, he reports to a guard that the boy is still at home, but no action is taken.

They are transferred to the Beaune-la-Rolande camp. The men are deported to the death camp in Auschwitz, the women later too, and the children have to stay. Sarah tries to escape with a friend, Rachel, after noticing a small hole in the ground underneath a fence. A guard stops them, whom Sarah recognizes from before the war. She remembers he had always been friendly to her in the past, and begs him to let them go, she has to save her brother. After making sure no one can see, he agrees, lifting a hole in the fence to let them out.

Movie Trailer
Sarah's Key Trailer



Movie Credit
Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Writers: Gilles Paquet-Brenner (screenplay), Serge Joncour (screenplay)
Stars: Kristin Scott Thomas, Mélusine Mayance and Niels Arestrup

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