Sarah's Key 2011

In 1942, young Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance) makes a desperate decision to safeguard her 8-year-old brother by secreting him away in a hidden closet, instructing him to remain there until her return. As she takes the key with her, she and her parents are forcibly relocated to the Vélodrome d’Hiver, where they’re subjected to deplorable conditions at the hands of the Paris Police and French Secret Service.

The deportees are subsequently transferred to the Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp, with adults being sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, leaving the children behind. Sarah’s attempts to escape with her friend Rachel are foiled when a sympathetic Paris police guard spots them. However, when Sarah pleads with him to release them, promising she’ll save her brother, he hesitates before lifting the barbed wire, allowing their escape.

Sarah and Rachel find solace in a doghouse on a farm, where they’re discovered by Jules and Genevieve Dufaure. Despite knowing the risks associated with harboring Jewish refugees, the Dufaures decide to aid the girls. As Rachel’s condition deteriorates, Sarah begs for medical attention, which inadvertently attracts the attention of a skeptical German officer searching for a second Jewish child. The search is interrupted by the arrival of a French physician carrying the lifeless body of Rachel.

In the aftermath, the Dufaures take Sarah back to her family’s apartment building in Paris. Overwhelmed with emotion, she rushes to her old room and unlocks the cupboard, only to be met with a horrific discovery that sends her into hysterics.

Years later, after the war, Sarah chooses to rebuild her life as part of the Dufaure family, along with their two grandsons. As she approaches adulthood, she relocates to the United States, seeking to leave the trauma behind. She ceases correspondence with the Dufaures upon marrying and having a son, William. However, when her son turns 9, Sarah’s lingering guilt over her brother’s fate drives her into a tragic accident – an unintended collision with an oncoming truck. It is revealed to her son that his mother’s death was merely an unfortunate incident.

As Julia (Kristin Scott Thomas) delves deeper into the mysterious past of her husband’s family apartment, she uncovers a hidden narrative that draws her in with an unrelenting intensity. The inherited space, once home to her elderly father-in-law, holds secrets dating back to August 1942, when he was just a boy who unwittingly played a role in a pivotal moment during the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup. As Julia’s curiosity gets the better of her, she learns that her husband’s family acquired the apartment around the same time and becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about what transpired 60 years prior.

Her father-in-law shares his own fragmented knowledge with Julia, hoping to quell her prying once and for all. However, Julia’s investigation only intensifies as she begins to piece together the enigmatic life of Sarah, whose existence seems to have vanished into thin air. Her quest takes her from Brooklyn to Italy, where she finally tracks down William (character not specified), Sarah’s son, who has been living in the shadows, unaware of his mother’s tumultuous past.

Julia’s revelations initially stun William, as he grapples with the shocking truth about his mother’s history and struggles. As the full extent of Sarah’s story unfolds, including her ultimate sacrifice, William is left reeling, struggling to reconcile his own identity with the weight of his family’s complex heritage. In a poignant moment of introspection, Richard (character not specified), William’s dying father, imparts upon him the significance of their shared history, emphasizing that “we’re all a product of our past.”

As Julia’s life takes a dramatic turn, she discovers she is expecting another child, despite years of fertility struggles. Her husband’s decision to leave their 12-year-old daughter, Zoe, behind as he embarks on an affair serves as a poignant reminder of his own selfish priorities. Julia ultimately chooses not to terminate the pregnancy and gives birth to a baby girl, whom she raises alongside her older daughter. Two years later, William reaches out to Julia, sharing additional insights into Sarah’s life, and they reunite in a bittersweet moment that bridges the past and present.

In this chance encounter, Julia brings along her young daughter, whose name is none other than Sarah, prompting an emotional catharsis for both Julia and William as they gaze upon their shared connection.