Plenty of traditional themes underpin Frantz

Frantz, from French director François Ozon, is a remake of Broken Lullaby, an early talkie from 1930, itself based on a play from 1925.

The setting goes back further. It’s 1919 in Quedlinburg, Germany, and Anna (Paula Beer) is grieving the death of her fiancé, Frantz, in the Great War. But on a trip to place flowers on his grave, she notices a mysterious Frenchman doing the same thing.

He turns out to be Adrien Rivoire (Pierre Niney) and claims to

have been a friend of Frantz in Paris before the war. Not everything about his story adds up, but Anna and Frantz’s parents welcome the stranger into their home as a way of getting closer to the memory of their lost loved one.

Anna and Adrien become friends. But the townspeople aren’t as welcoming of a Frenchman so soon after the war, and soon Adrien heads home. When a letter comes back undelivered, Anna decides to follow him to Paris and find out what has happened. She’ll face a similar prejudice as a German in France.

Ozon is wise to retain the original setting; the time period allows for a certain circumspection in manners.

Frantz remains a lovely story about acceptance and understanding, themes that never get old.