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The tumultuous events of May 1968 have never seemed more upbeat and sentimental than they do in The Safe House (La Cache), a retro family dramedy set in one labyrinthine Parisian apartment while the surrounding streets abound with social unrest.

Based on Christophe Boltanski’s prizewinning 2015 novel, the latest feature from Swiss writer-director Lionel Baier (Continental Drift (South)) is drenched in period nostalgia and wink-wink vibes, even if there’s a darker undercurrent running through the plot. With a few glaring homages to Jean-Luc Godard, among other nods to the epoch, the film plays more like historical pastiche than original material. It scores some soft emotional blows toward the end, but otherwise feels like a minor trip back to a major time.

Author Boltanski is the nephew of renowned artist Christian Boltanski, famous for his brooding installations composed of metal boxes, archive photos and documents meant to recall the traumas of WWII and the Holocaust.

Memories can’t be cancelled. The Boltanski family never celebrates significant dates, even their own birthdays; according to the narrator who leads us into this whimsical fantasy of post-war Jewish life, they live only for the present moment. In May 1968, the present moment consists of riots in the streets and demands for the government to step down, although it is the utopian dreams on the posters slapped up on walls that embody the movement’s true spirit: “Beauty is in the streets!” “Banning is banned!”. One of the Boltanski sons is out there at the Sorbonne with his wife, changing the world; the rest of the family are together in their house in Paris, where they like to huddle in one room, eating assortments of snacks on the bed while the revolution is televised.

In fact, the past is stuck in the house’s every crack. Knick-knacks from menorahs to...

Paris, May 1968, becomes more than a backdrop in “The Safe House” (“La cache”), Swiss filmmaker Lionel Baier’s latest. It’s an adaptation of Christophe Boltanski’s Prix Femina winning novel, “La cache,” produced by Bande à Part Films and co-produced with Red Lion, Les Films du Poisson, Rts Radio Télévision Suisse and Srg Ssr, making it a French, Swiss and Luxembourgish co-production. The comedy-drama, which debuts in competition at Berlinale, sees Baier observe an eccentric family.

The ensemble cast features Dominique Reymond as the Grandmother, the late Michel Blanc as Père-Grand, the Grandfather, William Lebghil as the Great Uncle and Aurélien Gabrielli as Little Uncle. Liliane Rovère portrays Hinterland, while Adrien Barazzone and Larisa Faber play the boy’s father and mother, respectively, with Ethan Chimienti as the aforementioned boy. Gilles Privat also joins the ensemble in a key supporting role.

Baier’s film opens with a line from...