“Suite Francaise”: Fusty But Enjoyable
Rediscovering the work of Irene Nemirovsky over the past decade has been a pleasure, so I can’t wait to see the new movie adaptation of her “Suite Francaise, starring Michelle Williams and Matthias Schoenaerts.” Variety has seen the picture, calling it: ‘a fusty but enjoyably old-fashioned WWII soap that, notwithstanding its Gallic locale, is otherwise characterized by a distinctly British brand of plumminess. Based on the bestselling unfinished novel by Irene Nemirovsky, this lightly perfumed tale of the tentative romance between a married Frenchwoman and an urbane Nazi soldier during the 1940 German occupation covers no new ground historically or stylistically, and is hampered by gauche narration that undermines the expressive delicacy of Michelle Williams’s headlining performance. Still, attractive mounting and casting — with the inspired choice of Matthias Schoenaerts as Williams’s co-lead paying off handsomely.
