SUITE FRANCAISE (Saul Dibb). 107 minutes. Rating: NNN
Where to watch: iTunes
Based on Irene Nemirovsky’s posthumously published novel, Suite Francaise examines the ways in which institutions like class, marriage and community are ruptured by war.
Stuck living with her icy landowner mother-in-law (Kristin Scott Thomas) just as the Nazis occupy their French village, Lucile (Michelle Williams) finds herself drawn to an uninvited house guest. Bruno (Matthias Schoenaerts) may be a Nazi, but he’s handsome, soft-spoken and, like her, loves music. As violence, deprivation and humiliation are inflicted on local labourers and aristocracy alike, Lucile and Bruno risk everything to craft a private refuge and perhaps a romance.
Helmed by Saul Dibb (The Duchess), Suite Francaise is one of those international prestige productions where Home Counties English inexplicably becomes the lingua franca, our heroine supplies some entirely superfluous voice-over, and ostensibly spontaneous exchanges turn into big speeches.
Yet the narrative is steady and suspenseful, the acting uniformly strong, and the horror and injustice of war are not too watered down by sentimentality.
