'Mr. Klein', a French thriller set in during the Nazi occupation of France will be screened at 3 pm on September 23 and 6.30 pm on Sept 24 at Alliance Francaise, Barnes Place, Colombo-7.

Directed by Joseph Losey , the film revolves around Robert Klein, a womanizing antique dealer, remains untouched by the German occupation of Paris and indifferent to the fate of Jews under Nazi rule--until he's confused with another Robert Klein, a fugitive and a Jew. Set in Paris, 1942, Klein is a successful art dealer, profiteering from the French government's treatment of its Jewish citizens. To escape deportation to Germany, Jews are forced to sell their treasures to unscrupulous people like Klein. Then, one day, Klein receives a Jewish pamphlet addressed to him. He decides to look into this and discovers that there is another Mr. Klein who has set out to confuse their identities to cover his own anti-Nazi activities.

Klein is determined to discover what his namesake is up to, to the point of assuming his identity. In doing so, he risks being arrested in place of the Jew he is pursuing… The film itself is made in classic film noir style, but with an intensely cold feel arising from the photography. Sets are lit dimly virtually throughout, and a heavy dark grey is the dominant colour. The mysterious unknown Mr Klein seems to lurk, unseen, in the shadows, tantalisingly close, and it is perhaps this which gives the film its almost Hitchcockian feel of intrigue. Mr. Klein won two Césars (best film and best director) and is now widely regarded as one of the few truly inspired French films of the 1970s.