Farewell Mr. Haffmann * * * *

I'll be back.  

I'm not sure if this was adapted from a stage play, but it easily could have been. Most of the action is in one location - the interior of a jewelry shop in Paris, along with the apartment above and basement below.

The drama is set in1941 and 1942 when the Nazis made a surprise visit to France. The jeweler, Mr.Haffmann was Jewish and the Nazis were not particularly fond of Jews, so he wisely decided to get out of town sending his family on ahead. 

Mr Haffman had one employee, Mercier.  Mercier was a Frenchman with no Jewish lineage. So Mr Haffmann suggested he "buy" his business, then "sell" it back to him on his return when the war is over.  A bill of sale was drawn up, but no currency actually changed hands.  

So off Mr. Haffmann goes to catch up with his family.  But twenty four hours makes a big difference, and now he can't get out of the country, so he scurries back to his Jewelry shop and hides in the basement. 

Thus the real drama begins as Mercier and his wife now have to look after him. As far as everyone in the neighborhood knows Mercier is the new proprietor and Mr. Haffmann and his family have disappeared. 

In the meantime Nazi officers take a shine to the Jewelry at Mercier's and become regular clients spending a lot of money to impress their foolish French girlfriends, who will no doubt be up for a free haircut when all this is over.

Mercier's wife Blanche is a somewhat timid person. She is frightened of them harboring Mr. Haffman, but she begins to become sympathetic toward him, perhaps sharing an empathetic sense of imprisonment and oppression.  The conduct of Mercier gets worse and the things he asks of his wife and Mr Haffman become untenable. 

It's not so much a great piece of cinema as a beautifully acted, very fine drama, committed to film. It also offers a rewarding twist in the end that is poetic justice indeed. 

It's the last film I saw from the French Film Festival 2022, but apparently it is going mainstream from next week. It's well worth viewing.