The movie tells the story of Sarah Lloyd (Andie MacDowell)'s search for her husband Harrison (David Strathairn), a Pulitzer Prize-winning Newsweek photojournalist who was presumed killed while covering the war between Croatians and Serbs in Yugoslavia [1991-1995].
Les Fleurs d'Harrison (Harrison's Flowers) is a novel by war photographer Isabel Ellsen. The novel was adapted for the film by Ellsen along with Elie Chouraqui (who also directed the movie), Didier Le Pêcheur, and Michael Katims.
Sarah and Harrison Lloyd's story is fictional. However, the war between the Croatians and the Serbians, the atrocities, and the destruction of Vukovar are very real.
Harrison kept a greenhouse in which he grew and photographed flowers. In his absence, his son Cesar (Scott Anton) took care of the flowers. Viewers of the movie have seen symbolism in that the flowers are, in a sense, Harrison's family, and his family are the flowers.
