SARAH’S KEY
An exceptional Holocaust drama that chooses hope and life.
Should You Watch It?
You should see Sarah’s Key if you’re looking for a powerful, exceptionally acted drama that faces terrible history without graphic depiction and still ends with hope. Kristin Scott Thomas is superb as an American journalist uncovering the truth about a Jewish family rounded up in Paris during World War II. Mélusine Mayance is also excellent as young Sarah.
The film is not overtly religious, but it clearly stresses doing the right thing and taking action against anti-Semitism. Its central message is “Choose life,” including through its abortion subplot. The story’s tragedies are intense and deeply sad, so this is not an easy family movie.
The practical answer: Sarah’s Key is worth seeing for mature teenagers and adults who can handle its heavy themes.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESIn Paris in 2009, American journalist Julia Jarmond begins investigating the 1942 roundup of Jews by the French police. She discovers that her husband’s family acquired their apartment soon after a Jewish family was taken away.
The investigation leads Julia to the story of Sarah, a 10-year-old Jewish girl separated from her parents during the roundup. Sarah is desperate to return to Paris and to the hidden place where she left her younger brother. Julia’s personal life becomes increasingly entwined with Sarah’s past.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is an exceptional movie. Sarah’s Key is emotionally powerful, with a restrained approach to its Holocaust scenes that remains forceful without becoming graphic.
Kristin Scott Thomas gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Julia, the journalist uncovering painful truths. Mélusine Mayance is superb as young Sarah. The film’s strongest achievement is its ability to present terrible tragedy while ending on an uplifting note that celebrates life.
The Worldview
Sarah’s Key presents a very strong moral worldview. It condemns anti-Semitism and stresses the importance of doing the right thing, even when doing so requires people to risk everything to help someone vulnerable. The film also offers an anti-abortion message through Julia’s pregnancy and her husband’s desire for her to end it.
The movie is only lightly Christian rather than overtly religious. An older woman who helps Sarah is a Christian, and the story includes a reference to a Holocaust survivor baptizing her son because she feared he would never be safe while identified as Jewish. The film also includes a politically correct, revisionist comment about the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, which an older heroine rebukes.
The film’s central choice is whether to protect life amid suffering. Scripture says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong moral worldview with an anti-abortion message that also stresses doing the right thing and taking action against National Socialist, big government Anti-Semitism, plus light Christian element where older woman who helps Jewish child is a Christian and man makes politically correct, revisionist history comment about the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan but older heroine rebukes him; four “d” and “h” obscenities, four light profanities and long shot of a corridor in a stadium crowded with Jews being deported where people have gone to bathroom; intense violent themes surrounding the Holocaust (but not graphic) includes police round up family, guards separate Jewish husbands from wives and children, guards separate Jewish mothers from children under 12 and physically stop mothers from preventing this outrage, guards pull children from their mothers, guards finally use some hoses on mothers and children to separate them, implied suicide and talk of suicide in at least three short scenes, young girl contracts fatal disease and dies, discovery of dead child’s body but body not shown, woman falls from ledge in crowded stadium and her dead body is briefly shown but no graphic wounds depicted, and man wants his wife to get an abortion but she doesn’t; no sex; two 10-year-old girls running away from French concentration camp escape and take a swim without their tops off isolated river bank so one-girl’s pre-pubescent chest is shown under water as she floats on her back; brief alcohol use; some smoking; and, Anti-Semitism but rebuked, husband tries to talk his wife into having an abortion because he doesn’t want to become an “old father” and she’s had two miscarriages since their 12-year-old daughter was born but he fails, woman becomes estranged from husband, it is said that a Holocaust survivor baptized her son in a church because she became so afraid that he would never be safe as long as he could be identified as a Jew, and movie tells some tragic events that will upset people but ends on a very strong positive and uplifting, but highly emotional, note.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Julia and Sarah’s stories show people searching for truth after terrible injustice. Why does truth matter, even when it brings pain?
John 8:32 · Ephesians 4:25Several people risk everything to help Sarah. What does doing the right thing require when helping someone is costly?
Micah 6:8 · Luke 10:30–37The film’s message is “Choose life.” How should Christians speak about the value of life when fear, loss, or pressure makes that choice difficult?
Deuteronomy 30:19 · Psalm 139:13–16The Holocaust reveals the devastating effects of anti-Semitism. How can we resist hatred and honor the dignity of people made in God’s image?
Genesis 1:27 · James 2:1–9The Final Word
Sarah’s Key is exceptional, deeply moving, and ultimately hopeful. Its Holocaust tragedies and other mature themes call for discernment, but its moral emphasis on truth, courage, and life gives it lasting value. For mature teenagers and adults, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — MATURE TEENS AND ADULTS.
