FRANTZ
An elegant war drama about grief, guilt, and forgiveness.
Should You Watch It?
FRANTZ is an engaging French war movie about people trying to live with grief, guilt, and loss after World War I. Its simple scenes and rich characters give the story emotional weight, while its mostly black-and-white photography conveys the sorrow left behind by war.
The film also carries strong moral elements. Repentance, forgiveness, prayer, purity, and the rejection of pride, revenge, and drunkenness all matter to the story. It avoids foul language and explicit sexual scenes, but war violence, bloodshed, mature themes, brief upper male nudity, drinking, and lying make it unsuitable for younger children.
If you are choosing for teenagers or adults, FRANTZ is worth seeing for its heartfelt plot, moral seriousness, and hopeful ending. Parents of younger children should use discernment.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESAfter World War I, Anna lives with the parents of her deceased fiancé, Frantz, in Germany. She spends her days mourning and placing flowers on his grave.
One day, she discovers a mysterious French veteran, Adrien, leaving flowers there too. He says he knew Frantz in France before the war. As Adrien grows close to the grieving family, his stories bring them comfort—and Anna begins to fall for him.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means FRANTZ is a very good film with meaningful strengths. Its story is beautifully written, its plot is engaging, and its characters are rich and emotionally convincing.
The mostly black-and-white photography is especially effective. The film comes into color when Anna feels alive again, creating a striking contrast that reinforces the recurring theme that everyone suffers in war. FRANTZ uses simple scenes rather than foul language or explicit material to create its mood, and it ends on a hopeful note.
The Worldview
FRANTZ presents a strong moral and Christian worldview. A soldier seeks forgiveness from the family of the man he killed during battle. Repentance is a repeated theme, and the story also values purity while rebuking pride, revenge, and drunkenness.
Prayer is woven into ordinary life. A woman prays at a cemetery, a family prays before a meal, and Anna confesses to a Christian Catholic priest. The film treats forgiveness as difficult but necessary, while also raising questions about guilt, truth, and whether some secrets should remain hidden.
The movie’s central longing is for peace after violence and forgiveness after wrongdoing. Scripture calls believers to forgive one another: “forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:13).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong moral, Christian worldview where a soldier survives World War I and seeks to attain forgiveness from a family whose son he killed during battle, soldier seeks purity and rebukes pride, revenge and drunkenness, woman places flowers on deceased fiancé’s grave, woman prays at a cemetery, man brings flowers to dead soldier’s grave, family prays before mealtime, woman confesses to a Christian Catholic priest at church, and repentance is a repeated theme; no foul language; strong and light war violence includes soldier shoots another solider in the heart and kills him, bloodshed and dead bodies shown during war, bombs explode, and gunfights; no sex, but man and woman kiss on the lips; brief upper male nudity; German men drink beer at a bar to celebrate after the war, French men drink wine to celebrate after the war, woman drinks wine at social dance; no smoking or illegal drugs; and, strong miscellaneous immorality includes lying and bad role models.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Adrien carries guilt for what happened during the war. How are repentance, forgiveness, and receiving forgiveness connected?
Psalm 51:17 · 1 John 1:9Anna grieves deeply after losing Frantz. What can faithful waiting and honest grief look like?
Psalm 34:18 · Romans 12:15The characters wrestle with whether painful truths should be revealed. When is honesty difficult, and how should Christians speak truthfully?
Ephesians 4:25 · Proverbs 12:22The film rejects pride, revenge, and drunkenness. How do these sins damage people and relationships?
Proverbs 16:18 · Ephesians 5:18The Final Word
FRANTZ is a thoughtful, beautifully written war drama with rich characters, strong moral elements, and a hopeful ending. Its violence, bloodshed, and mature themes call for parental discernment with younger viewers. For teenagers and adults, our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — AGES 13 AND UP.
