DIPLOMACY review by Susan Kandell – a tense look at an important meeting during WWII

DIPLOMACY review by Susan Kandell – a tense look at an important meeting during WWII
« DIPLOMATIE » Un film de Volker SCHLÖNDORFF

Niels Arestrup as General Dietrich von Choltitz (left) and André Dussollier as Consul Raoul Nordling in DIPLOMACY. Photo: Jérome Prébois courtesy of Zeitgeist Films.

Film Review by Susan Kandell Wilkofsky

Directed by: Volker Schlöndorff

Written by: Cyril Gely

Adaptation by: Cyril Gely and Volker Schlöndorff

Runtime: 84 minutes

French and German with English subtitles – NR

Combat does not always take place on the Battlefield

The agonizing struggle between morality and duty is front and center in Diplomacy, the fascinating story about the city of Paris and how it was saved from destruction at the end of World War II.

Directed by Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum) and starring the two marvelous French actors André Dussollier (Amélie) and Niels Arestrup (Sarah’s Key), Diplomacy is based on a play by Cyril Gely. The film takes place almost entirely in an elegant, luxury suite in the Hotel Meurice, headquarters of the Nazi occupation. It depicts the fateful meeting that took place before dawn on August 25th, 1944 between the German Commander of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz and Sweden consul Raoul Nordling.

In the wee hours of the morning, the Swedish consul covertly slips into the hotel with the intent of dissuading General von Choltitz from implementing Hitler’s orders to destroy the city. The dialogue between the two men reveals the harrowing process that led the Nazi general to disobey the direct command to leave the city in rubble.

Blending a dose of historical reality and touch of creative narrative, Schlöndorff provides a tension filled 84 minutes. The confrontation between these two men in this film is largely fictitious, but derived in part from Choltitz’ memoirs.

If Diplomacy whets your apetite for World War II dramas that don’t take you to the battlefield, you may want to rent Is Paris Burning?, the 1966 release directed by René Clément and starring Orson Welles as Consul Raoul Nordling. In the meantime, go see Diplomacy and mourn for the days when diplomats could sway wars with words and not swords.

Diplomacy opens at the Angelika Dallas on Friday, December 5th, Angelika Plano on Friday, December 12th and at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston on Sunday, January 4th.

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Niels Arestrup as General Dietrich von Choltitz (left) and André Dussollier as Consul Raoul Nordling in DIPLOMACY. Photo courtesy of Zeitgeist Films.

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