Blind faith

A French girl and a German soldier find common ground in Steven Knight's touching World War Two drama

-  ALISON SLADE, IAN MACEWAN

NEW DRAMA
All the Light We Cannot See
From Thursday 2 November, Netflix

Adapted from a Pulitzer Prizewinning novel, All the Light We Cannot See tells the story of blind French girl Marie-Laure LeBlanc (Aria Mia Loberti), who flees German-occupied Paris during World War Two with her father Daniel (Mark Ruffalo) and a gemstone the Nazis want to acquire.

Pursued by Gestapo officer Reinhold von Rumpel (Lars Eidinger), they head for the coastal resort of St Malo, where they move in with Marie-Laure's reclusive uncle Etienne (Hugh Laurie), who broadcasts radio messages for the Resistance.

It is while they are there that Marie-Laure encounters gifted German teenager Werner (Louis Hofmann). Tasked by the Nazis with tracking down illegal broadcasts, he shares a secret connection with Marie-Laure and will restore her faith in humanity, bringing the possibility of hope in desperately dark times.