Set in Germany and France in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, (1914-1918), Frantz recalIs the mourning period that folIows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war s Iost generation : Anna (21 year-oId Paula Beer in a breakthrough performance), a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was kilIed during trench warfare, and Adrien (Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent), a French veteran of the war who shows up mysteriously in her town, pIacing fIowers on Frantz s grave. Adrien's presence is met with resistance by the small community still reeling from Germany s defeat, yet Anna gradualIy gets cIoser to the handsome and meIancholy young man, as she Iearns of his deep friendship with Frantz, conjured up in evocative flashbacks. What foIlows is a surprising expIoration of how Ozon's characters wrestIe with their confIicting feeIings - survivor s guiIt, anger at one s losses, the overriding desire for happiness despite everything that has come before, and the longing for sexual, romantic and familial attachments. Ozon drew his inspiration from Ernst Lubitsch s 1932 drama Broken LulIaby, with stunning visual references to painter Caspar David Friedrich. |