Wonderful Movie

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Good concept, poorly executed.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

First, because it is an Ozon. so, your expectations are well defined. second - it seems be familiar. your memories about "Broken Lullaby" are the basic clue. but, "Frantz" is different. special. surprising. yes, provocative. for motifs out of words. it is a love story. and more. it is a war film. and more. it is the story of a meeting and discover and family and clash between different cultures. and, off course, more. because all has the status of source for new steps on a way without rules, limits and forms of delicacy remaining unique. a film like one of yours memories. seductive. moving. discret . convincing. like an old song . or a flavour. so, an experience. fragil, strange, useful. about force and vulnerability. preserving not only the realistic images of a lost period but, in refreshing manner, its spirit. so, "Frantz". it is enough its title for define each aspect of this, in charming way, film.

I saw the trailer for this foreign film in the last week. What appealed to me was the sensitivity between the male and female leads. It was shot mainly in black-and-white. It seemed to have a measured pace to it that was perhaps covering up some deep emotion. The trailer had some beautiful cinematography in a scene by a lake. The trailer set up a bit of a mystery which was intriguing.So the timing was right tonight and on a romantic whim I went to see it. I thought I knew why the character Adrian claimed he was a friend of Frantz. But as it turned out I was wrong. I was pleased to be wrong and be therefore taken on a ride along where the film took me. The film was set in Germany and Paris in 1919 and explores the attitudes between the French and Germans still raw after WW1.I enjoyed it. The film dealt with a number of issues: guilt, pride, love, loss, heartache, nationalism and others.These days there is so much below-average Hollywood pap that is not worth seeing, it's a pleasant change to experience a film that is more human.I recommend it.

Set in the German town of Quedlinberg in 1919 we meet Anna. Her fiancé –Frantz – has been killed near the end of The Great War and she mourns at an empty grave – his body having never been repatriated. She lives with his parents who are both grieving in different ways. Then one day she sees a man weeping at the graveside and discovers he is French. He soon makes himself known as a pre war friend of their beloved Frantz and breaks down their initial hostility towards him to get to know them better.But all is not what it seems and this becomes a story of not one but two odyssey's as the storie(s) unfold along twist and turns. The film is shot in monochrome and colour. When it is black and white it is where things are bleak as if all the colour has drained from the world and then when love and hope appear so does the radiant colours. A simple enough device but done with subtle intensity an a film that takes its cinematography, rightfully, seriously.The acting is all sublime with Piere Niney ('Yves St. Laurent') as the Frenchman – Adrien Rivoire – being perfectly cast balancing the fragility and immediacy of the role perfectly. Paula Beer as Anna really grows into her role too, which is necessary from the plots development and from the actual character development and is prefect also. All supporting actors are just spot on. The film also shies away from the melodrama that is often associated with extremes of emotion and take the everyday and makes it important.This is one of those films that comes along all too seldom. It is in French and German with good subtitles. Yes it can be called 'Arthouse' but it is also a simple but powerful story told with great care and skill and is a film that will reward you for sticking with it to the end – easily recommended.

366/5000 I can not avoid thinking all the time, that I do not like the actor, I'm not going for that role. The whole movie is thinking that there will be a romance between the two and how that lady is going to roll up with that guy. I think the film is too long, it is exhausting because the tempo is very slow. It has moments that I do not know if they are crazy of the director or that they are.The sexual tension is so evident in the film that he runs all the time, between him and her and sometimes you think between the two men. She's great, but he does not like me at all.I do not know if anyone would react as the character of the actress does, after everything that happens in the film. It seems incredible to me that someone forgives so much in such a short time.The photograph to be in black and white, takes you to that time and the whole setting helps a lot to it. That's achieved, like the costumes and the make-up.The address is as it always does. A very slow tempo. Simple plans, at least they are not bad. But the casting is very bad.It's for the director's lovers, others will get bored.Spoiler: I do not know why the dead man is seen reflected in a mirror winking.