As Paris falls to a fascist invader, German dissident Georg wants to head for Marseille and a boat out. Sent to deliver some letters to a German writer, he finds that the man has committed suicide because his wife has left him. But one of the letters is from her, asking to be taken back and begging him to join her in Marseille. There is a superficial resemblance between Georg and the dead man and he takes his papers, which include a passage on a boat to Mexico.He jumps a train with his injured friend Henrik but Henrik dies of his injuries. Georg goes to see his wife, a deaf-mute North-African, and eight-year-old son Driss, with whom he quickly forms a bond. When Driss has an asthma attack, he fetches Richard, a doctor, who is living with the writer's wife Marie. Richard had a passage out but got off the boat because Marie wouldn't go with him, convinced that her husband will come to join her. Who is going to get away?1940, yes? Except that the Paris and Marseille we see are modern, as are the cars and the clothes. The message, presumably, is that people are being displaced everywhere and at all times. It's not a thriller, more a meditation on love and loss. I liked it a lot.
Susan Kelly ● 2354d