At once a mysterious, romantic period piece and a somber, soul-searching melodrama, FRANTZ presents a tale of love and reflection as it unfurls in a small German town in the days following World War I through the memories and relationships of loved ones left behind. It is the latest acclaimed film from the prolific French writer/director François Ozon, whose previous critical and commercial successes in the U.S. include Swimming Pool ($10 million domestic box office), 8 Women ($3 million) and Potiche ($1.6 million).Set in Germany and France in the aftermath of the First World War, FRANTZ recalls the mourning period that follows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war’s “lost generation.” They are Anna (21 year-old Paula Beer in a breakthrough performance), a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare, and Adrien (Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent), a French war veteran who shows up mysteriously in Anna’s town, placing flowers on Frantz’s grave. Adrien's presence is met with resistance by the small community still reeling from Germany’s defeat, yet Anna gradually gets closer to the handsome and melancholy young man, as she learns of his deep friendship with Frantz. What follows is an exploration of how Anna and Adrien wrestle with their conflicting feelings - survivor’s guilt, anger at one’s losses, the overriding desire for renewed happiness, and the longing for sexual, romantic and familial attachments.
Ozon drew his inspiration from a post-WWI play by Maurice Rostand that inspired the 1932 film adaption by Ernst Lubitsch under the title Broken Lullaby. Not surprisingly, Ozon was initially leery about the prospect of “remaking” a film by the late, great filmmaker.
