Zeitgeist Films is proud to present the Los Angeles theatrical premiere of Volker Schlöndorff’s DIPLOMACY, starring two of France’s greatest actors, Niels Arestrup and André Dussollier. The film will open at the Film Forum in New York on Wednesday, October 15, and at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles on November 7. A national release will follow.
On August 25, 1944, Hitler asked General Dietrich von Choltitz : “Is Paris burning?” Volker Schlöndorff, Oscar-winning German director of THE TIN DRUM, dramatizes a fictionalized all-night confrontation between the steely Nazi general (Arestrup) and the wily Swedish consul, Raoul Nordling (Dussollier) – that will decide the future of the City of Lights. Ensconced in the legendary Hotel Meurice, on Rue de Rivoli, the two men, played with extraordinary intelligence and fervor, engage in an extended battle of wits, that — amazingly — leaves us breathless until the film’s final moments. The script, by Schlöndorff and Cyril Gely, based on the hit play by the latter (with both actors reprising their stage roles), keeps the odds shifting; just when we think the consul has won over the general, the old soldier comes back with a riposte that a new law, passed specifically for him, means death for his wife and children if he disobeys orders. – Karen Cooper, Film Forum
About the director:
Volker Schlöndorff has been a major international director for nearly 50 years, beginning with his acclaimed first film, YOUNG TORLESS (1966). In addition to the Oscar-winning THE TIN DRUM (1979), he is well-known to American audiences for THE CIRCLE OF DECEIT (1981), DEATH OF A SALESMAN (1985), THE HANDMAID’S TALE (1990), THE LEGEND OF RITA (2000), and THE NINTH DAY (2004).
About the actors:
Actors André Dussollier and Niels Arestrup have appeared in more than 200 films since 1970; each has won three César Awards and together they’ve been nominated for another six. Arestrup starred as a Corsican mob boss in A PROPHET (2010) and was recently seen in THE FRENCH MINISTER (“the great Niels Arestrup, commanding his every scene,” according to Manohla Dargis in The New York Times), and Dussollier, an Alain Resnais regular, stars in his LIFE OF RILEY, which will be in this fall’s New York Film Festival.
______________________________________________________________________________________