A Great War mystery

"Frantz" (⋆⋆⋆½ out of four stars, rated PG-13 for thematic elements and war violence) is an intricately layered mystery from French writer/director François Ozon. Based on Ernst Lubitsch's 1932 antiwar drama "Broken Lullaby," the story is told through the eyes of Anna (Paula Beer), a young woman who has a special attachment to Frantz (Anton von Lucke), a fallen German soldier. A Parisian musician (Pierre Niney) arrives to pay his respects and share his happy recollections of Frantz, but his presence in the small German town so soon after the end of the Great War causes much consternation among the suspicious locals — one of whom has his eye on Anna. It's a cunningly crafted fiction, full of visual artifice and narrative sleight-of-hand that by the end could hardly feel more sincere. (Uptown Theatre)

JUSTIN CHANG, Los Angeles Times