 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
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 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Sarah's Key
- Review Date: July 22, 2011
- PG-13
- Genre: Drama
- 2011
Common Sense Media says
Powerful drama includes horrifying Holocaust violence.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this often-intense drama based on the 2007 novel by Tatiana De Rosnay takes place in both 1942, as a brave 10-year-old girl tries to survive the Holocaust and rescue her younger brother, and 2009, as a journalist in France tries to find out what happened. The movie features some horrifying violence, mostly surrounding the Holocaust sequences that make up about a third of the film. Characters commit suicide, get sick, and die; children are pushed and hurt in the general chaos; and blood is shown. There's some minor sexuality, including a pregnant woman and an image of two teen/pre-teen girls swimming naked. Teens old enough to handle the Holocaust imagery will find some interesting and powerful history lessons here.
What's the story?
In 2009, journalist Julia (Kristin Scott Thomas) is preparing to move into a Paris apartment belonging to her husband's family when she notices a troubling detail about the apartment's history: During the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942, the Starzynski family lived there. The film proceeds to chronicle the story of 10-year-old Sarah (Mélusine Mayance), who locks her younger brother, Michel, in the closet and tells the French Nazi sympathizers that he isn't home. Later, though Sarah and her parents are held prisoner in appalling conditions, Sarah realizes that Michel isn't safe and decides to escape and rescue him. But present-day records show no trace of Sarah or her brother, so Julia becomes obsessed with discovering the secret of the apartment, bringing the truth to Sarah's family at last.
Is it any good?
After directing a mediocre 2009 horror movie called Walled In, Gilles Paquet-Brenner takes on much more ambitious material with SARAH'S KEY. To his great credit, he uses powerful Holocaust imagery sparingly and only to illustrate a brief point, rather than to run the audience through a wringer. He focuses on the strengths and shortcomings of the two women characters, several generations apart, and captures an uncommonly powerful portrait of both. Scott Thomas is particularly good in a role that she seems born to play.
Moreover, Paquet-Brenner manages a good balance between the two time periods, which isn't always easy (one usually dominates the other); the modern day sequences sometimes serve as a respite for the harsher 1942 scenes. Indeed, the rhythms of the mystery unfolding in 2009 are perhaps even more quietly compelling than the more primal, more powerful war sequences. Either way, Paquet-Brenner keeps up a steady pace and an effective emotional resonance.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the violence of the Holocaust. What would make people behave that way? How is that period of history typically portrayed in the media?
What keeps drawing filmmakers and audiences to this subject material?
Does knowing the truth help or hurt the characters in 2009? Is something painful better hidden or known?
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AGE
Disturbing
Though it was a okay movie, I felt that it was extremely upsetting. Not because of the Holocaust violence, but Sarah's brother died in the closet and when she finds his body it is rotten and decaying. I cried!
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AGE
Should be an R rated film.
This holocaust movie is very sad and scary. Even though educational for younger ones, it's scary and scarce throughout. Many deaths including a 5 year old boy. Older teens would be fine for this flick.
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| Studio: | Weinstein Co. |
| Director: | Gilles Paquet-Brenner |
| Cast: | Aidan Quinn, Kristin Scott Thomas, Melusine Mayance |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 111 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | July 22, 2011 |
| DVD release date: | November 22, 2011 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | thematic material including disturbing situations involving the Holocaust |
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