The official trailer for Farewell Mr Haffmann lets us know that we’re in for a morally turbulent watch: set in Nazi-occupied Paris, 1941, the story concerns a Jewish jeweller (Daniel Auteuil) who doesn’t manage to escape the city in time.
He’ll have to depend on the kindness of his assistant (Gilles Lellouche) in order to survive, a subversion of the power hierarchy that can only lead to resentment and tragedy. You can watch all the wartime turmoil in Farewell Mr Haffmann, now screening in Australian cinemas.
Auteuil is an extremely recognisable face in French cinema, nominated for a stunning 14 César awards and winning two of ’em. Lellouche is known for switching between comedic roles and gritty, dramatic turns, certainly giving us the latter as an embittered assistant who begins to take advantage of his boss’s trapped circumstances.
But who knows how things will turn out, as a character in the below trailer reminds us: “luck is like war…it doesn’t last.” Haffmann has an ally in his assistant’s sympathetic partner (Sara Giraudeau), who is uneasy to see her husband gradually taking over control of the shop and Haffman’s fortune. It’s worth noting that this whole film is based on a successful play, which is why the limited locations and small cast of intense performers are so very compelling.
As the film (and even the trailer above) play out, we begin to see that it’s not only the persecuted Haffmann who is trapped by the cruelties of invasion and genocide. Even his ambitious assistant is a victim, in some ways: whilst he’s selling his boss’s beautiful and elaborate jewellery off to the Nazis and currying their favour, the whole while he’s stewing in the knowledge that all of his success is a lie.
The chip on his shoulder only grows more with his inability to bear his wife a child, and that sliver of power combined with fragile masculinity leads to an explosive ending. We’ll have to check the film out in cinemas to find out if Haffmann gets a fond farewell or a more tragic send-off.
