Diplomacy

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“The reason [DIPLOMACY] never ceases to compel is not only the skill of the actors but also the kind of provocative and thoughtful dialogue that characterizes intellectual combat of a high order…Orchestrating it all beautifully is veteran director Schlöndorff, a polished, thoughtful filmmaker who adds his own genuine love of Paris (he was an assistant director to both Louis Malle and Jean-Pierre Melville) to his command of the verbal drama. This story resonates deeply with him, and he has seen to it that the same thing happens with us. – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“The intimate camerawork allows us to see each man’s point of view as he watches the other for an opening. The ferocious Arestrup, with his intimidating upper lip and his outraged glare, makes the General a Prussian aristocrat who is contemptuous of weakness and death…Dussollier, who has one of the great French film voices, guttural yet smooth, powers through the role of a life-loving man who can be both insinuating and ruthless. – David Denby, The New Yorker

As the Allies march toward Paris in the summer of 1944, Hitler gives orders that the French capital should not fall into enemy hands, or if it does, then “only as a field of rubble.” The person assigned to carry out this barbaric act is Wehrmacht commander of Greater Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, who already has mines planted on the Eiffel Tower, in the Louvre and Notre Dame and on the bridges over the Seine. Nothing should be left as a reminder of the city’s former glory. However, at dawn on 25 August, Swedish Consul General Raoul Nordling steals into German headquarters through a secret underground tunnel and there starts a tension-filled game of cat and mouse as Nordling tries to persuade Choltitz to abandon his plan.

In this riveting adaptation of the stage success by Cyril Gély, the great Volker Schlöndorff (Academy Award winner THE TIN DRUM) has created a psychologically elaborate game of political manners between two highly contrasting characters. While Choltitz entrenches himself behind his duty to obey unquestioningly all military orders, Nordling tries everything he can to appeal to reason and humanity and prevent the senseless destruction of the beloved “City of Light.”

Official Site

Details:
84Rated NR
Distributor Zeitgeist Films
in French and German with English subtitles

Showing Today at the Theater Fri, Mar 29

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Admission: $14.50 Adults, $11.00 Matinee Bargain Shows, $11.50 Seniors (62+), $11.00 Child (12 & under), Student and Military, $10.00 Avalon Members, $9.00 Seniors who are Avalon Members.
Same rates apply to Wednesday Signature Series programs unless otherwise noted. Weekend Family Matinees, Exhibition on Screen, NT Live and Special Event ticket prices vary; senior discounts may not be available for these programs.

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