Sunday, March 20, 4:00pm
UNC Charlotte Center City, Lecture Hall
Diplomatie / Diplomacy
Director Volker Schlöndorff
France, Germany, 2014, 88 min
In French with English subtitles
Presented as part of The Tournées Festival, which was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US, the Centre National de la Cinématographie et de l’Image Animée, and the Franco-American Cultural Fund.
Additional sponsors are the Alliance Française de Charlotte and the UNC Charlotte French Club.
Introduction by Christine Haynes, Associate Professor of History, UNC Charlotte. Discussion will follow screening.
A brisk, intelligent adaptation of the World War II–set play of the same name, Volker Schlondorff’s Diplomacy features magnificent performances by two lions of French cinema: Niels Arestrup and Andre Dussollier, re-creating the roles they originated onstage. The former plays Dietrich von Cholitz, the German military governor of occupied Paris; the latter stars as the Swedish consul-general Raoul Nordling. The actual meetings between these two historical figures, which occurred over several days—and which were earlier dramatized in René Clément’s 1966 film, Is Paris Burning?—are here compressed to one extremely tense night in August 1944 when Nordling tries to convince the Nazi commander not to carry out Hitler’s orders to bomb Paris.
©Zeitgeist
Reviews:
“Passionate, engaging and emotional… An elegant orchestrated pas de deux between
formidable opponents.”—Scott Foundas, Variety
Social Media Links: Diplomatie on YouTube