Damon Smith sees a French wife fall for a Nazi, then a maths prodigy fail to work out what adds up to love

Heartbreaking truth is more compelling than fiction in Suite Française, Saul Dibb’s adaptation of the novella Dolce by Irene Nemirovsky.

Penned by Nemirovsky, a French Jew, in the early 1940s, Dolce was supposed to be the second instalment of a five-book series documenting life under German occupation and the subsequent rise of the Communist resistance.

Shortly after completing the second tome, the author was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz, where she died, leaving behind a journal filled with finished work, detailed notes for a third book and provisional titles for the concluding instalments.

More than 50 years later, her daughter pored through the diary and gave her blessing to the publication of books one and two, Tempete En Juin (Storm In June) and Dolce, as a single volume.

Dibb’s picture concludes with moving testimony to the author, providing an emotional kick that is sadly lacking from the rest of his handsomely crafted tale of forbidden love in a time of conflict.

Suite Francaise opens with grainy black and white news footage of the German advance in June 1940, then bleeds into full colour as the narrative moves to the bucolic town of Bussy.

Madame Angellier (Kristin Scott Thomas), whose son enlisted, ignores the spectre of war to collect rent from cash-strapped tenants, aided by her daughter-in-law, Lucile (Michelle Williams).

On the road, they encounter refugees, who have fled Paris in the futile hope of outrunning Hitler’s troops. Soon after, the Germans arrive and Commander Bruno von Falk (Matthias Schoenaerts) is billeted with them.

“There was a relief in his presence after months of silence,” poetically remarks Lucile, who shares the handsome officer’s love for music.

As the Viscount and Viscountess de Montmort curry favour with the occupying force, farmer Benoit Sabarie (Sam Riley) and wife Madeleine (Ruth Wilson) suffer the presence of billeted German officer Kurt Bonnet (Tom Schilling), who makes clear his libidinous interest in the wife.

Tempers flare there, while pulses quicken under Madame Angellier’s roof as Lucile and Bruno surrender to desire.

They keep the affair secret, but cannot hide their illicit liaison forever.

Suite Française is a well-crafted yet emotionally underpowered portrait of a community torn apart by prejudice and suspicion. Thomas delivers another steely turn as a woman of substance, but the chemistry between Williams and Schoenaerts remains at a gentle simmer.

At the start, Dibb orchestrates one decent action sequence — German planes dive-bombing French refugees — then settles into a pedestrian pace, ech-oed in the languid voiceover narration.

Suite Française (15)   
Directed by Saul Dibb  
Starring Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sam Riley, Ruth Wilson, Margot Robbie, Alexandra Maria Lara, Lambert Wilson, Harriet Walter, Tom Schilling