In a small German town in the immediate aftermath of WWI, Anna (Paula Beer) grieves for her late fiancé, Frantz. When she encounters a mysterious young Frenchman (Pierre Niney) laying flowers at Frantz’s grave, Anna welcomes him into her life and their shared connection to Frantz propels a haunting and romantic tale of guilt and forgiveness in the shadow of war.
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, Yves Saint Laurent), 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.
“Astonishingly beautiful and inquisitive. it s impossible to deny the sheer narrative sophistication.” –Eric Kohn, Indiewire
Starring Paula Beer, Pierre Niney, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber.
Rated PG-13