Sarah's Key
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Metascore
59 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: Julia Jarmond, an American journalist married to a Frenchman, is commissioned to write an article about the notorious Vel d’Hiv round up, which took place in Paris, in 1942. She stumbles upon a family secret which will link her forever to the destiny of a young Jewish girl, Sarah. Julia leararns that the apartment she and her husband Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand’s family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers - especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive - the more she uncovers about Bertrand’s family, about France and, finally, herself. (The Weinstein Company)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 30
  3. Negative: 2 out of 30
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    Jul 18, 2011
    90
    The movie gathers momentum with a steady, assured pace, accumulating incidents, characters, secrets and lies until the rush of events is absolutely transfixing. Cinema can sometimes rival the novel in compulsive intensity and Sarah's Key is one such example.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Jul 21, 2011
    80
    Sarah's Key is more powerful than you expect, maybe even more powerful than it should be.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Angie Errigo
    Aug 1, 2011
    60
    Exceptional turns by Mélusine Mayance and the ever-excellent Kristin Scott Thomas illuminate a tense and compelling story. The contrived modern-day framing works less well.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    Jul 22, 2011
    38
    Sarah's Key belongs to the Holocaust for Dummies section of Harvey Weinstein's History for Dummies series of mer etricious glossy dramas that ransack global events and turn them into middlebrow women's weepies to fill his trophy case.

See all 30 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Michael8776
    10
    Interesting and heartbreaking movie in many respects. However....I watched this movie with English sub-titles and these were the worst sub-titles that I have seen in 40 years of watching foreign films. The company who did the subtitles obviously did not either speak French or English - one or the other. The subtitles looked as if they had been done by a computer generated program like Babel Fish or Google Translate with all of the faux pas and oddities that come with using those programs. To me, the screwed up subtitles were off-putting and detracted from the movie. Besides the screwed up translations, there were spelling errors such as words with a Quote Mark at one end of the sentence and no closing quote. One line said something like "I will meet u". instead of "you". These are mistakes that should not have happened in the international release of a movie.… Expand
  2. wishmaster
    8
    Fascinating.! Sarah's story was amazing, gave me one of the most shocking moments in a long time, the ending a bit weak but that does not diminish the merit of a movie that left you wanting to see more.! Kristin Scott Thomas of course fantastic and excellent Mayance Mélusine; favorite phrase "No one decides when I die"… Expand
  3. NJWolfgang
    7
    An unusual film that combines two stories and the journey of two women dealing with issues that impact their life. Sarah a young jewish girl who survives the French Roundup in 1942 and Julia who late in life becomes pregnant during her investigation into Sarah's life and has to deal with her husbands not wanting the child. It's a quiet film for it's subject matter. The director was careful not too weigh on story more than the other and in the process lost the dramatic impact of both life altering decisions. Kirstin Scott Thomas portrays Julia with a great deal of restraint and reserve. Melyanne portrays Sarah with mostly expression in after she's matured. The young Sarah is excellent but is decidedly held back to let the finding of her brother have a great deal of impact. It really doesn't have the impact that the director intended. The supporting actors are much more interesting in some aspects than the two central figures. The farmer Dufare stands out immediately. Visually it's as quiet as the pace of the entire film. The stories conflict one another without a great deal of explanation for why Julia is so driven to find Sarah and how Sarah who survives the Holocaust can't seem to find that her survival is miraculous enough to build a new life. It's a rather quietly intense film without a great deal of hystrionics.… Expand
  4. CitizenCharlie
    6
    On 16 & 17 July 1942, French police in occupied Paris rounded up over 13,000 Jews in what has become known as the Velâ

See all 8 User Reviews

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