Before remembering

Plus tard, tu comprendras (One day you'll understand)

Crit

What an aptly named film, because none of the three of us who saw it together understood as we left the theater, but with each contributing a question or an observation that hadn't occurred to the others, we came to a much clearer comprehension after our postcinema discussion.

It is, in essence, the story of France's grotesquely mixed record vis-à-vis the Holocaust, played out in one family, the mixture of French Catholics with Russian Jews. It is also an intensely personal mystery story, as much for the audience as for the protagonist,Victor (Hippolyte Girardot, whom I'll be seeing again in another couple of weeks in Un conte de Noël, along with Emmanuelle Devos, who plays his wife here). Jeanne Moreau, 80 now, still beautiful, is perfect as the Jewish grandmother who has her reasons for not wanting to talk about the past.

A unique Holocaust film, which has become a rare label.