Adieu Monsieur Haffmann

Flawless work by the cast make this watch an emotion inducing one. It's a people story full of artistic expressions. Great visuals to portray how lives changed. A chronicle on what people saw, felt and had to live through in a time of death. Farewell Mr. Haffmann is for the keen minds to revisit history and admire the strange ways of human mind the fountain of persona.

Exploring some of the bizarre, darker aspects of the human condition during occupation, this modern drama displays French cinema at its finest. Director Fred Cavaye brings starkly to life a story by Jean Philippe Daguerre, dealing with those shocking years of the Nazi occupation of France. The sickening French collaborators, the inhumanity of innocent families lives being sacrificed to an inhumane regime, and the uncertainty of what might remain in the years to follow.

All performances are uniformly sterling (especially Sara Giraudeau as the perplexed wife) as is the dynamic cinematography by Denis Rouden - making this above-average production riveting from beginning to its somewhat ironic finale. It's rounded off by a thoughtful music score from Christophe Julian.

At times it's perhaps a difficult watch and some plot development might seem a bit forced, but eventually offers some rich rewards. Recommended for contemporary History devotees and studies of human relationships.

Movies on Holocaust are always very emotional but this one is even more loaded with all kinds of emotions. The characters just jump out of the screen and become a part of your life too. It takes a very good script, an excellent direction and larger-than-life actors to achieve that.

Based on a stage play, this movie is a fictious story of the unsafe situation of jews in WW2 occupied Paris.

The story takes place over the period from early 1941 - not long after the Nazi's occupied part of France - until the end of 1942. It focusses on a jewish jeweler and a french family.

Since the story is based on a stage play, it takes place on a very small area: i.e. Mainly the building in which the jewelry (work)shop is located. So you will not see anything from occupied Paris. Neither will you see much military action or many WW2 props.

Overall, I think it is a basic story which does't provide or educted you on significant events that took place during WW2.

The very excellent roleplay that the actors treat you with, will make this movie still a worthwile viewing experience. Their acting is of such level that they were able to keep my attention fully caught on the events.

Concluding, I score this movie with 6.3/10, resulting in a IMDb rating of 6 stars.

I am beginning to wonder that the great French actor Daniel Auteuil has hit lower ground with his recent choices for the movies he is starring in. Daniel Auteuil used to be a sure bet that you were gonna see a solid movie, but times have changed, so it seems...

The bad: this movie is dressing up to be a dramatic movie about war refugees, but what it ends up being is a cheap copycat.

Every technical detail (set, photography, sound) is below average. But what's worse is that the acting performances are lacking in spark and punch. There simply is no actor's chemisty.

This looks and feels like a cheaply made television movie. Bummer. Expected a lot more from it...