Suite Française - Melodie der Liebe

It is a very nice romantic movie, but it also shows the horrors of war; the plot is very good and the performances of Michelle Williams and Matthias Schoenaerts are excellent; it is highly recommended.

I was nearly put off going to see this after reading a few sneering reviews, which in retrospect appear to have been more an attempt by the critic to show off about their having read the novel than having actually anything to do with what's on screen.

Yes, the narration is a little heavy handed at times but ultimately necessary and the incongruous "When it comes to war you really find out what people are really like" early on felt like it was being trowelled out so we didn't miss it. Sure, it's not perfect but these are minor niggles not major flaws.

Thankfully, it isn't a boy invades village; girl falls in love; boy isn't as beastly as first thought kind of story. Life's more complicated than that. Where the film excels is that what you think of a character changes as the film progresses. There is no good German. There is no black and white collaboration. There are just people confronted with circumstances and how they react to them.

Michelle Williams brilliantly underplays her role which counteracts the clumsiness of the script in places, Matthias Schoenaerts is superb as the sensitive and conflicted man of war and the supporting cast excellent.

It's a little gem.

Suite Francaise is, for me, a rather sophisticated commentary on inequality and dispossession.

The characters in Suite Francaise are never to any measurable degree in control of their own fate. They are each controlled and constrained by social, economic and political prohibitions. In their own way each suffers a form of inequality of treatment, which leads to some form or other of dispossession.

For the lead characters, the young French wife and the German officer she comes to love, the most obvious inequality is their inability to form and sustain a loving relationship.They are constrained by political differences and social prejudices. Other characters experience dispossession as a result of a variety of factors such as class bias and racial discrimination. The loss in these cases, ranges from dispossession from property, through to deportation and death.

What is clear is the authors frustration and fury at the insanity of the world we live in. How so called civilizations and on a more local level individuals, demonstrate spitefulness and pettiness, (demonstrated by neighbours writing incriminating letters to the occupying German forces about one another) that prevent us all from leading free and happy lives.

This message is driven home all the more painfully and forcefully when you consider the tragic fate of the Jewish author, whose work this film is based upon. Sent to her death at a Nazi concentration camp simply for being Jewish.

The film adaption, derived from her incomplete series of books, is perhaps, a little stilted at times. This may in part be due to the fact the books were incomplete but possibly also due to the subtly of the message, which is not easily communicated in a ninety minute or so film.

In summary, Suite Francaise, is a thoughtful film. The compelling and heartfelt message which asks us all to practice kindness, understanding and tolerance when faced with its antithesis is as relevant in today's troubled times as ever it was. Eight out of ten from me.

Perhaps the best thing about 'Suite Française' is that the love story is intriguing. This is a rare thing nowadays and brings to mind the great heyday of romance in the Seventies. 'Suite Française' is set in Nazi occupied France during the start of World War II. You will therefore be crying with powerful and furious emotion. Michelle Williams is at the fore front of this film; gladly she does not fail or let the production team down in any respect. She plays a French Villager (I think) called Lucile Angellier. I say this statement with doubt as last time I checked French people did not speak English as their first language. Her overbearing mother is played with severity by Kristin Scott Thomas. She outright leads her daughter's life for her and plays a prominent role in all of her decisions, whether they be little or large. Their village becomes ruled and dictated by German soldiers, some much more brutal than others. There are different personalities and beliefs to each of them. This is great to see, because it paints a broader and larger painting. It shows us that not everyone can be placed definitively into a category.

Lucile is eventually watched over by a lieutenant by the name of Bruno Von Falk. Yes they do fall in love. But it is not as clichéd as I had suspected even if it does fall prone to a few nearly unavoidable clichés. It is the small subtleties that shape their romance. Lucille grows tired of her mother being in charge of her own life and this relationship allows her to become more independent and free minded. This provides the audience with depth, as it is not just a forbidden romance, but a necessary one as well. The lieutenant is acted sufficiently by Matthias Schoenaerts, who proves that he is not just a pretty face off of Hollywood's conveyor belt of seemingly endless blank, bland and boring male actors.

The horrors of war are slightly forgotten about as the film enters its later stages of the romance. But I cannot become too angry at the film, as it is a romance and not a war film. The film maintains good pacing, so that nothing is sudden and unexpected. This is an absolute necessity as we must become invested in the romance as time progresses. This is something that the Director should be proud of. That we maintain a surging like towards the two leads and always care about the characters. For the impatient they may find the whole affair too plodding, as there is only one action set piece located at the start of the film and even that is as brief as they come. But ask yourself, do we really need more action; for this type of film, no, absolutely not. In the last act of it, it becomes a sad if predictable experience, which therefore means that the smallest trace of a tear is kept at bay. The film in its final moments is everything that it promised us it would not be; clichéd and predictable.

Although far too predictable in its final act 'Suite Française' represents one of the more plausible romances in recent memory. The acting is enthusiastic by Michelle Williams and the male lead gets the job done. 'Suite Française' may be too drama heavy, but if the romance is this engaging; then frankly my dear I don't give a damn.

At the beginning of WWII, a young married woman (Williams) and her mother in law (Scott Thomas) living in a village close to Paris, are forced to take in their house a German officer from the occupying forces (Schoenaerts).

Scott Thomas is perfect as Madame Angellier, the icy mother in law with a twist. Williams and Schoenaerts are suitably reserved and understated as the star-crossed lovers. Sounds predictably tragic, but it is actually a very well made and interpreted movie. Also an engaging and believable love story, rather than a paint-by-number or a post-modern one.

The supporting cast is equally good, with a bunch of inhabitants - from the local gentry to the lowest peasants - in conflict with each other and foolishly thinking they can exploit the nasty German occupants to settle personal scores.

The melancholy of the story rings true, maybe because it is based on a novel written at the time of the events narrated. Definitely a refreshing experience in old-style storytelling – think "Casablanca", with slightly more gory details and less hope in the future of a beautiful friendship.