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Francofonia

Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov crafts a valentine to the Louvre in Paris with this artful amalgamation of documentary and dramatisation, which elegantly combines archive material with digital trickery to explore the history of the museum during the Nazi occupation. With poetic narration by the filmmaker, Francofonia glides down the corridors of the Louvre in the company of Marianne (Johanna Korthals Altes), the symbol of the French Republic, and Napoleon Bonaparte (Vincent Nemeth), who eagerly survey the works of art that could have become the spoils of war had they not been squirrelled away at various chateaux. While the rest of Europe was bombed heavily during the conflict, Paris emerged relatively unscathed and the film depicts the unlikely relationship between the Louvre's director, Jacques Jaujard (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing), and a senior German officer called Count Franziskus Wolff-Metternich (Benjamin Utzerath), who worked closely together to shield the Louvre's countless treasures from harm.