Watch Arletty: A Guilty Passion

Arletty: A Guilty Passion is a 2015 biographical drama film directed by Arnaud Sélignac, starring Laetitia Casta in the titular role of Arletty, a French stage and screen actress who became a cultural icon during the 1930s and 40s. The film follows the ups and downs of Arletty's life, focusing primarily on her controversial love affair with a German officer during the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War II.

The film mainly takes place in Paris during the years leading up to World War II and during the Nazi occupation. It opens with Arletty as an established actress at the peak of her career, drawing large crowds to the theater with her performances. She is confident, charismatic, and unafraid to stand up for herself and her beliefs. However, as the Nazi occupation begins, Arletty must navigate a dangerous political climate while trying to remain true to her heart.

In the midst of the Occupation, Arletty meets and falls in love with a German officer, Hans-Jurgen Soehring, played by Ken Duken. Soehring is the very embodiment of the German occupation for the French people, and Arletty's relationship with him is met with scorn and derision from both her fellow actors and the public at large. Despite this, she chooses to follow her heart and pursue the relationship, leading to a lot of heated dialogue and conflict.

The film manages to capture the inner turmoil of Arletty as she tries to navigate her feelings for Soehring while staying true to her sense of patriotism and love for Paris. She starts to realize that her involvement with Soehring is making her complicit in the Nazi agenda, and she is forced to confront her own moral ambiguity when it comes to the dangers of the German occupation. Her relationship with Soehring also has implications for her career, as it threatens to tarnish her legacy as one of France's most beloved actresses.

As the war rages on, the tensions between Arletty and Soehring become even more pronounced, with both of them coming to terms with the disastrous consequences of their actions. In the end, the film is a somber meditation on love and morality, asking difficult questions about what one is willing to sacrifice for the sake of love and what it means to be a true patriot in times of war.

Laetitia Casta does an outstanding job of portraying Arletty, capturing her spirit, charisma, and vulnerability with ease. Her performance is nuanced and well-realized, never descending into caricature or melodrama. The chemistry between Casta and Ken Duken is also palpable, making their love story all the more poignant and affecting.

At its core, Arletty: A Guilty Passion is a film about love, passion, and the complicated moral questions that accompany them. It manages to capture the essence of Arletty's life while also delving deep into the political and social realities of the time. By the end of the film, audiences are left both moved and unsettled, forced to confront their own ethical dilemmas in the face of love and war.