Partir, revenir (1985)

In 1985, Salomé Lerner has just written a book about her life. She appears on Bernard Pivot’s television program Apostrophes, and he immediately imagines the film that could be made from it: a film entirely set to music, in which Salomé imagines pianist Erik Berchot as the reincarnation of her brother. In 1939, in Paris, Roland and Hélène Rivière become friends with Simon and Sarah Lerner. The two men work in medicine. Vincent, the Rivières’ son, falls for Salomé, Simon and Sarah’s daughter, but she does not return his feelings. War threatens, and the Rivières plan to leave Paris for Burgundy if war breaks out—which it does a few weeks later. Staying in Paris, the Lerners try to lead a discreet life to avoid the roundups. But after the concierge of their building denounces them, they flee Paris in haste and take refuge with Roland and Hélène, who own the château in their village in Burgundy. Vincent resumes courting Salomé, who avoids him as best she can. For their safety, the refugees must not leave the château, and Salomon Lerner tries to pass the time at the Rivières’ piano by playing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto. As the situation grows oppressive, Hélène comes up with the idea of pretending that Vincent and Salomé are engaged, to make the Lerners’ presence official in the eyes of the villagers by organizing a large celebration. Some time later, the German police arrive at the château and arrest the Lerners. They realize that they have been denounced. At the end of the war, Salomé, the only survivor of her family, returns to the Rivières’ château to try to discover the truth.