Keswick Film Club - Frantz

Synopsis

It is 1919, only a few weeks after the war has ended and the inhabitants of Quedlinburg - a small town in Germany - are trying to come to terms with losing the war and losing their loved ones. Anna cannot get over her fiancé, Frantz: she is even still living with his parents. She visits Frantz's grave every day. One day she sees a stranger placing flowers on the grave. He turns out to be Adrien...a Frenchman. What is he doing there? How did he know Frantz?

François Ozon has built a reputation around thought-provoking films that don't fit into any one genre, that often blur the boundaries of both gender and sexuality ('8 Women', 'Swimming Pool', 'Jeune & Jolie'). He is also famous for producing films fast, averaging more than one a year. 'Frantz' is different; it is based on a little-known 1932 film 'Broken Lullaby', though the second half is completely new, written by Ozon. A romantic mystery, it comes over as an homage to Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', "although Ozon being Ozon, every riff and tribute is upside down, back to front, and bilingual to boot" - Robbie Collin, Telegraph.

Anna and Frantz's family start off not trusting Adrien - even hating him as a Frenchman - but gradually they grow to like him as they find out how he knew Frantz. But is he telling the truth? Would knowing the truth help anyway? What should Anna do about her growing feelings for him?