Set during the German occupation of France, this film explores the many political and personal repercussions of a pianist's infatuation with the singer she accompanies. When famous chanteuse Irene Brice asks Sophie to become her accompanist, the working-class girl joyfully accepts.... [More]

Set during the German occupation of France, this film explores the many political and personal repercussions of a pianist's infatuation with the singer she accompanies. When famous chanteuse Irene Brice asks Sophie to become her accompanist, the working-class girl joyfully accepts. Sophie, however, soon discovers that she has entered into a complex, and sometimes dangerous, world: Irene, despite having a lover in the Resistance, regularly cozies up to the occupying Vichy government -- a situation deeply resented by Irene's husband, who wants to leave the country. When they do finally flee, Sophie loyally joins them, putting Irene's life and needs ahead of her own... becoming an accompanist in more than a musical sense. [Less]