MovieTime

Review

by Julie Rigg

This is a thoughtful, well made film from Claude Miller which crosses memoir with family drama, and touches on a very raw point: the deportation of French Jews by the Nazis.

Francois (played by Valentin Vigourt, and Quentin Dubuis) always suspected he had a brother. At seven, he played with an imaginary brother; at fifteen he forces the truth from a family friend. Yes, there was a brother before him. What happened to this brother, and to his father's first wife, is part of the secret at the heart of a this post-war French family. There are terrific performances from Cecile de France and from Matthieu Amalric whom we saw in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, from Ludivine Sagnier and from Julie Depardieu. Don't miss the postscript.

Director: Claude Miller
Cast: Cecile De France, Patrick Bruel, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu, Matheiu Amalric, Nathalie Boutefeu, Yves Verhoeven, Yves Jacques, Orlando Nicoletti, Valentin Vigourt, Quentin Dubuis, Myriam Fuks, Robert Plagnol, Michel Israel
Producer: Yves Marmion
Script: Claude Miller, Philippe Grimbert(author)
Cinematographer: Gerard de Battista
Editor: Veronique Lange
Music: Zbigniew Preisner
Running time: 100
Australian distributor: Dendy
Language: French
Classification: M