Partir, revenir (1985)
Directed by Claude Lelouch

Film Synopsis

In 1985, Holocaust survivor Salomé Lerner publishes a book in which she recounts the traumatic wartime experiences that have scarred her life.  She was inspired to write the book after a chance encounter with a pianist who reminded her of her brother Salomon.  Salomé still hasn't come to terms with the loss of her brother, an immensely gifted musician who died in a Nazi concentration camp, along with his mother and father.  It was a tragedy that the family came so close to avoiding, and yet, human nature being what it is, it was probably inevitable.  The Lerner family was settled in Paris when the Nazis took control of the country in the summer of 1940.

Three years later, the family narrowly escaped deportation after being denounced by their concierge, thanks to their good friends, Roland and Hélène Rivière.  It was the latter who came to the Lerners' rescue, offering them a safe refuge in their Dijon chateau.  Careful not to arouse the suspicion of their neighbours, the two families made it look as if Salomé and the Rivières' son Vincent were engaged to be married.  On account of his eccentric behaviour, Vincent had something of a reputation with the locals, and some even thought he was mad.  For a while, the Lerners were safe from harm and lived an idyllic life.  But all too soon the Germans showed up and arrested them.

After the war, one question is burned into Salomé's mind: who could have brought this about?  Like her devoted friend Roland Rivière, she is keen to uncover the identity of the person who denounced her family to the Nazis.  The obvious culprit is Vincent - in his erratic state of mind, he might have been capable of anything, even the worst kind of treachery.  But no, he turns out to be entirely blameless.  Salomé can scarcely believe her ears when she finally discovers who it was who betrayed her family and sent them to their deaths...