Watch out, spoilers!
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The French drama “Farewell, Monsieur Haffmann” / Adieu Monsieur Haffmann, 2021, directed by Fred Cavaier based on the play of Jean-Philippe Daguerre of the same name, takes us back to the period of occupation of France by the Germans during the World War II. The jeweler Joseph (Jozef) Huffman (Daniel Autoy) lived with his family in Paris, kept a small workshop in which he recently hired an assistant François Mercier (Gilles Lellouch), but the yard was already 1941, persecution of Jews began, and Huffman was just a Jew. After posting announcements that all Jews should register, he realized that it was no longer necessary to delay, and he decided to send his wife and three children to the so-called free zone. He himself stayed for a couple of days to put his affairs in order, he came up with the idea to draw up a fictitious (since the buyer had no money) contract for the sale of his workshop to his assistant, so that on his return everything would return to its former state. But he did not have time to leave, the raids began, he had to stay, hiding in the basement of his house, and François lived in his apartment at this time with his wife Blanche (Sarah Girodo). Moreover, François had a stupid idea - they say that he and his wife could not have children, and Huffman had three, so Huffman should help him in this case, which, however, did not coincide with the thoughts of Huffman and Blanche. As time passed, a German major became interested in the workshop and began buying jewelry there for his beauties, and he liked just the jewelry made once by Huffman, what Francois did when they ended, neither he nor his girlfriends appreciated. François then forced Huffman to work for him, using jewelry taken from Jews as the source material, which Huffman once realized. He also pocketed money, although he promised to send Huffman’s wife, he also did not send letters to her, although he promised. François' ties with the Germans grew stronger, once he was so brazen that he took the impressionist painting belonging to Huffman, forged documents - glued his photo to Huffman's documents, sold it and here he was very unlucky - on the street he was arrested by a patrol and sent to prison, despite the fact that he shouted that he was a friend of the major, no one believed him, but his cellmates beat him up. Blanche saw the moment of the arrest, realized why he was arrested, but she did not intervene, but helped the real Monsieur Huffman.
I liked the film, the actors are good, and the topic of “about people” is inexhaustible.
