I was drawn to this film as I knew about Irene Nemirovska - that she had converted to Christianity but that did not save her and she died early on in Auschwitz. The first book which hardly features in this film ( strafing the column of refugees) details the flight of a bank and its personnel to Tours - actually the map is shown in the credit sequence. When I read it - it was exactly as my father described as he was caught and made a POW at Dunkirk. I recommend it to anyone to read. The story line of the film is well worth seeing - I saw it with a friend and after I went home he sat back for the rest .... Easily as good as The Black Book and WInter War. I thought it was very well crafted - the mayoress never says to the mayor "what I did has led to your death" but it was all poignantly acted. Lucille never confesses her love for Bruno.

During the early years of Nazi occupation of France in World War II, romance blooms between Lucile Angellier (Michelle Williams), a French villager, and Bruno von Falk (Matthias Schoenaerts), a German soldier. Suite Francaise is based upon the very popular best seller and honestly i don't know about the book but this film is fantastic the acting is superb and i loved the story and how Lucile and Bruno started to fell in love day by day another thing i liked was Bruno himself Schoenaerts gave a terrific performance as a good German. The rest of the cast also did great Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Riley and Margot Robbie even Lambert Wilson did great the only bad thing about the whole movie was that some characters didn't got the screen time that they need it to become even more interesting for example Margot's character should have been more in the film in the cast she's 3rd but she is in the film barely for around 5 or 6 minutes top even Kristin Scott Thomas should have been more in the film in my opinion but still one hell of a great film with a huge impact and that's for sure and that is why i'll give Suite Francaise a 8/10.

There's a story behind this movies existence that is as interesting as the film itself. It's disappointing to know that scenes involving the original story writers daughter (played by veteran Eileen Atkins) were deleted prior to the films release. Unfortunately, all that's left of these scenes is a montage of pages from her mothers original manuscript shown under the end credits - using these notes in this way can prove a little confusing for those unaware of the origins of these writings - as it tends to appear as if the films story was based on factual characters (while I'm sure many were indeed based on very real people and for the most part the instances portrayed were founded on some terrible historical facts). The author of the original story, Irene Nemirovsky, was tragically sent to her death at the hands of the invading German army following bitter fighting during the occupation of France in 1942. Her husband, before he also was executed, gave their daughter Denise his wife's manuscripts. Denise, for emotional reasons did not read her mother's writings till an astounding 60yrs later. She eventually had them compiled into a novel that was published in 2002 - becoming an international best seller. Story rights were then sold for production as a screenplay. Denise sadly died just before the films release. To play the main protagonist producers cast Michele Williams (My week With Marilyn '11) mother to the late Heath Ledgers daughter. Considering some of William's earlier roles she is nothing short of remarkable - turning in a convincingly measured performance as the repressed Lucile Angellier. This is more than a conventional wartime romantic movie as it deals realistically with the shocking impact of oppression and the devastating consequences it brings to all involved. Perhaps had the film makers paid a little less attention to the screenplays various sexual intrigues, they may have been able to treat us to those deleted scenes detailing the fascinating real life story - involving the writers daughter discovering her mothers work all those years after the event!. Director and co-screenplay writer Saul Dibb along with collaborating writer Matt Charman - join forces with director of photography Eduard Grau to create some remarkably atmospheric scenes. One well executed sequence featuring endless lines of displaced French families fleeing the relentless onslaught on foot, is a sad and dramatic sight.Those who remain in their homes are met with enforced billeting of German Officers - this brings out the worst of human nature with neighboring villagers sending notes 'rating' on their fellow neighbor's to gain favour from the Germans - a shocking act indeed. Music plays a key role throughout the film with a romantic piano soliloquy composed by Alexandre Desplate played throughout. The exciting accompanying action score is contributed by Rael Jones. Overall this is a sincere portrait of a dreadful time in human history and while the the script may falter in several situations it's far more thoughtful than some other offerings along these lines. Performances are strong with a sterling cast of professionals working at their peak.Note: This film is remarkably similar to an earlier production, staring the great Maria Schell "So Little Time" '52" - this marvelous classic film has recently been released on DVD in England and is more than well worth locating.

Despite its title (a reference to a piece of music) and its setting (occupied France early in the Second World War), this is largely an English-language film with a British co- writer and director (Saul Dibb) and an international cast. American actress Michelle Williams plays the French villager Lucile Angellier and Belgium actor Matthias Schoenaerts is the German officer Lieutenant Bruno von Falk who become romantically involved. The first half is rather slow and plodding but then the plot picks up. What makes the characterisations interesting is that Bruno is represented as an essentially good German, while many of the French are shown in a less than flattering light.The film is actually an adaptation of the second of two stories that was intended to be a novel of five tales written in French by Irene Némirovsky, a woman of Ukrainian Jewish descent who was deported from France to Auschwitz in 1942 where she died of typhus. Némirovsky's older daughter kept the notebook containing the manuscript for fifty years without reading it but, when she discovered what it contained, she had it published in France in 2004. The film adaptation was released ten years later.