It is 1919 and a young French man arrives in a little German village and puts flowers on the grave of a victim of the First World War. What was the relationship between the French man and the dead German? What shall be the relationship between the Franch men and the fiancee of the dead German? These are the central questions in the film "Frantz" by Francois Ozon. The first question is answered roughly halfway, the answer to the second question remains uncertain until the very end.
Up till now I had only seen "Huit femmes" (2002) and "Swimming pool" (2003) of Francois Ozon, and with the First World War drama "Frantz" Ozon goes "for something completely different" to use this Monty Python phrase.
The story behind "Frantz" was adapted earlier by Ernst Lubitsch in "Broken lullaby" (1932). "Frantz" is however not a remake of this film, if only because Ozon telles the story from a different perspective. The German Lubitsch takes the young Frenchman as his main character (Adrien played by Pierre Niney in "Frantz") The Frenchman Ozon takes the German fiancee as his main character (Anna played magnificently by Paula Beer).
This change of perspective is however not the only and not the most important difference between the two films. In "Frantz" Ozon takes a more complicated (but not necessarily negative) stance on the value of white lies versus the truth. In an interview about "Frantz" he says that behind each lie there is a desire.
In contrast with "Broken lullaby" "Frantz" was made well after the Second World War. Ozon had therefore knowledge about the relationship between the peace treaty of Versailles, ending the First World War, and the outbreak of the Second World War. The scenes showing remaining virulent nationalism are in this respect very disturbing.
"Frantz" is shot mostly in black and white, but some scenes are in color. In such a case I can't help to ask myself if there is a logic behind these choice. During the film I found none. In the above mentioned interview Ozon told that the emotionally more optimistic scenes (the film is about two persons damaged by the war and trying to pick up their lives again) are in color.
