Whereâs it on? BBC2, Sunday, 1.55am
Never one for staying still, French director François Ozon rivals our own Michael Winterbottom for the sheer variety of projects on his CV and the speed with which he seems to bang them out. Not to get stuck in the rut making the erudite comedies and erotic thrillers that had shaped his 2010s up to this point, he turned his attentions to this very sober, mournful and elegant romantic drama set in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. Shot mainly in black and white and in German, itâs a loose remake of Ernst Lubitschâs 1932 film The Broken Lullaby, in which the widow of a German soldier is visited by a Frenchman claiming to have been an old friend of her husbandâs. The cleverly titled Frantz is about the process of healing between two nations that are no longer at war with each other â the lingering enmity, distrust and the possibility for renewed connection. Visually the film recalls Michael Hanekeâs The White Ribbon (2009) in its monochrome evocation of small-town Germany in the early 20th century, yet Ozonâs approach is much warmer and more humanistic.