Very well executed

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

'Sarah's Key' is a well written and well made film that takes on a different holocaust story, combining historical and modern day events. To start with the positives - there were some strong acting performances, especially from the young actress who played Sarah, and the plot was strong and interesting enough.There were a few things that I didn't particularly like, mainly the constant cutting from one story to the other, which I thought took a lot away from the initial story of Sarah. Just when you feel you're getting into one story, it cuts away to other and loses the impact it could have had.I've seen plenty of holocaust movies and whilst this one attempts to do things differently, it just doesn't stand out.

I finally saw Sarah's Key and I will say that its an excellent film. Kristin Scott Thomas was great as usual, but the real star was Melusine Mayance who played the young Sarah. She was phenomenal and an actress to keep an eye on in the future. I haven't read the novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, but it's possible the film could have taken several different directions. The time shifts between 1942 and 2009 did not bother me, but I preferred the scenes with Mayance over the scenes with Thomas. Others have commented that the shifts between the two stories was necessary to avoid having another typical "Holocaust" film, but if Mayance carried the film herself from 1942 onwards, it would have been fine with me. I liked how the film portrayed a France that we do not get to see often--their experiences during the Holocaust, Vichy, etc. Yes, there are clichés, but sometimes they cannot be avoided. Hey, it's film-making after all! Overall, I give high praise for this film. It's unfortunate that Thomas and Mayance did not receive Oscar nominations for these role (but is anyone really surprised?!) but they will go far and continue to impress us

Sarah's Key is a true story about the Jewish deportation in France during the Second World War in 1942. It is told with very good placed flashbacks mixed with the present. The emotional scenes were well executed.There were a few dramatic situations where I had tears in my eyes.The actors delivered a solid job and especially the little girl Sarah played very strong.All the humanity should never forget what happened in the past. This must be remembered for eternity. If you are interested in these historic movies don't miss The Pianist, Der Letzte Zug, The Counterfeiters or Der Untergang. Read here my critic from each recommendation.My vote and my wife: 8/10

In July, 1942, the French Police breaks in the apartment of the Jewish Starzynski family and arrest them in the Velodrome of Vel' d'Hiv and then in a local concentration camp with other Jewish families. The ten-year-old Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance) hides her little brother Michel in a closet in her bedroom to escape from the police officers but she does not succeed on giving the closet key to a neighbor to rescue her brother. When her parents are transferred to a German concentration camp, Sarah flees from the French guards with another girl and they meet the family of Jules Dufaure (Niels Arestrup) that help her to return to Paris to rescue her younger brother.In 2009, the American journalist Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas) and her French husband Bertrand Tezac (Frédéric Pierrot) plan to reform his apartment in Paris to live with their teenage daughter. Julia is assigned to write an article about the notorious deportation of French Jews to German concentration camps in 1942. During her investigation, she learns that the apartment of her husband's family belonged to Sarah's family. She becomes obsessed by Sarah's life and to find the fate of the little girl. I have just bought the Blu-Ray "Elle s'appelait Sarah", a.k.a. "Sarah's Key", and I found it a perfect movie about a shameful and not divulged period of France's history in World War II. The writer Tatiana De Rosnay has written a magnificent novel and Serge Joncour and Gilles Paquet- Brenner have written an engaging screenplay. The director Gilles Paquet- Brenner made a heartbreaking film that is never corny.Kristin Scott Thomas is one of the best contemporary European actresses and she has another awesome performance in the role of a flawed, stubborn and selfish character that speaks perfect English and French and becomes obsessed to discover the truth about her husband's family. Her charm and elegance is impressive for a forty-nine-year-old woman. But the girl Mélusine Mayance "steals" the movie in the role of Sarah. The cinematography and music score are beautiful and costumes cover different periods and locations. My vote is ten.Title (Brazil): "A Chave de Sarah" ("The Sarah's Key")