A splendid cast work through the complications and stages of grief to provide a scathingly anti-nationalist warning from history.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 14, 2017

"Frantz" offers a sympathetic, if dark, look at the awful wake of war, at the cost of institutional violence, as well as the cost of surviving.

| Original Score: B | Jun 2, 2017

Ozon's latest is a twisty-turny post-War mystery - think 'A Very Long Bereavement' - that boasts a kaleidoscope of quiet emotions. It unfolds slowly, but rewards patience with strong performances and a swooning third act.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 15, 2017

There's a pleasing symmetry to this story - lie is matched by lie, journey by journey - and Beer's silky self-possession is utterly beguiling.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 14, 2017

François Ozon is a master at taking apart the French chattering classes, but here he attempts an almost classical piece of film-making in black and white, French and German, a tangled tale of love and friendship.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2017

Frantz is the work of a rascal, but a rascal in an unusually reflective frame of mind. Even with its mysteries solved, you can't help but keep turning it over.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2017

A much needed but underwhelming ode to pacifism and the futility of war.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 12, 2017

By the end of Frantz we feel we're still waiting for this aching, reticent, glacial drama to begin.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 11, 2017

It's one of his most heartfelt films, beautifully made and very moving in its own quiet, self-effacing way.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 10, 2017

Ozon wants to add another layer of perspective, to place Frantz's death in yet another context. Instead, the film's second half makes the first look strategic-a means to an end-serving less to countervail or complement than to cancel it out.

| May 4, 2017

Frantz is one of Ozon's best films and also one of his most touching.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 14, 2017

There's a sense of quiet introspection reminiscent of Ozon's collaborations with Charlotte Rampling, The Swimming Pool and Under the Sand -- arguably his best films.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 12, 2017

The perhaps too-beautifully manicured black-and-white 'Scope cinematography and Paula Beer's bravura turn as the German girl who got left behind make it worth your while.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 7, 2017

By the time it comes to an end, Frantz has made a permanent imprint, the hope for a better tomorrow after a cataclysmic yesterday striking chords of promise that make even the harshest of injuries feel as if they someday can be healed.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 7, 2017

"Frantz," a moving film set in post-World War I Europe, looks at truth and lies and the necessity for both in a grieving world that makes no sense.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 7, 2017

A fine bilingual cast, haunting period detail and a provocative approach to a twisting story carry the day.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 7, 2017

French filmmaker Francois Ozon reminds us of the adage, "the first casualty of war is truth." He does so in a way that beguiles but also bedevils.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 6, 2017

Using this moment in history, Ozon has made a quietly powerful film whose ultimate message is one of rebirth. The final shot will leave you breathless.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 6, 2017

"Frantz" contains revelations unrelated to the manner in which it protects, and then peels away, its central mystery. Ultimately, it addresses the question: Why go on living when life itself betrays us?

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 6, 2017

"Frantz" is pleasurable slow going, developing its themes at an amble but with a measure of suspense, sympathy toward its characters, and a lasting faith in filmmaking craft.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 30, 2017