Alone in Berlin (film)
| Alone in Berlin | |
|---|---|
 French release poster | |
| Directed by | Vincent Pérez |
| Produced by |
Stefan Arndt Uwe Schott Marco Pacchioni Christian Grass Paul Trijbits James Schamus |
| Written by |
Vincent Pérez Achim von Borries Bettine von Borries |
| Based on |
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada |
| Starring |
Emma Thompson Brendan Gleeson Daniel Brühl |
| Music by | Alexandre Desplat |
| Cinematography | Christophe Beaucarne |
| Edited by | François Gédigier |
Production company |
X-Filme Creative Pool Master Movies Filmwave |
| Distributed by |
X-Verleih (Germany) Pathé Distribution (France) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country |
Germany France United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Alone in Berlin is a 2016 war drama film directed by Vincent Pérez and written by Pérez and Achim von Borries, based on the 1947 fictionalized novel Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. The novel's characters Otto and Anna Quangel are based on the real lives of Otto and Elise Hampel. When their son dies in France, the couple start writing postcards to urge people to protest against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. The film stars Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson, and Daniel Brühl. Principal photography began on 27 March 2015 in Berlin. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.[1]
Plot
In 1940, a working-class couple in World War II-era Berlin, Otto and Anna Quangel, decide to resist Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, after receiving the news of the death of their only son. An additional impetus for their growing resistance to the regime is the fate of an old Jewish woman living in their building. Though the official deportation of Jews to death camps had not yet started, Jews have no recourse to any legal protection. Ruthless Nazis - and "non-ideological" common criminals - use the opportunity to loot the old woman's apartment with impunity. Despite the efforts of the Quangels' and other kind neighbors to help her, the persecution ends with the old woman falling (or jumping) to her death from a high window.
Impelled by all this, the couple starts writing postcards to urge people to stand against Hitler and the Nazis and protest against them, and furtively placing the cards in public places.[2] At first, Otto wants to do it all by himself, warning Anna "They hang women, too!". She, however, insists on taking part in this dangerous activity. While in the beginning of the film the couple's marriage seems to have dried up, and they are unable to console each other for the loss of their son, the shared risk and sense of purpose brings them back close together, in effect falling in love with each other all over again.
Escherich is the police inspector charged with finding the source of the postcards.[3] He is a professional police detective, acting out of professional pride rather than Nazi ideology. During three years of painstakingly gathering clues about the "Hobgoblin" (as he calls the mysterious writer of the postcards) he gets an increasing grudging respect for this elusive opponent. On the other hand, Escherich is beaten up by the Gestapo, impatient with the lack of progress, and is forced by them to execute extra-judicially a man he knows to have had no connection with the writing of the postcards.
Finally, Otto Quangel is arrested due to the accident of postcards falling out of his pocket at his workplace. He remains stoic about the certain death sentence awaiting him, and only tries in vain to take all the blame upon himself and save Anna. After the couple had been executed, Escherich is left alone in his office. Thereupon, he gathers up all of the couple's hundreds of subversive postcards, scatters them out of the open window of the police headquarters, and then shoots himself. The film ends with the image of the postcards swirling in the wind, falling down on the Berlin streets and picked picked up by passers by - giving the film's protagonists a posthumous moral victory.
Cast
- Emma Thompson as Anna Quangel[2]
- Brendan Gleeson as Otto Quangel[4]
- Daniel Brühl as Escherich[3]
- Mikael Persbrandt as SS Officer Prall
- Katharina Schüttler as Claire Gehrich
- Louis Hofmann as Hans Quangel
- Godehard Giese as Colonel Krüger
- Jacob Matschenz as Dietrich Necker
- Lars Rudolph as Enno Kluge
Production
Hans Fallada's Every Man Dies Alone was published posthumously in German in 1947 and was praised by Primo Levi as "the greatest book ever written about German resistance to the Nazis".[5] It was previously adapted as Alfred Vohrer's Everyone Dies Alone in 1975,[3] along with West and East German made-for-television dramas in 1962 and 1970. Marco Pacchioni and Vincent Pérez bought the rights to the novel in 2007.[2] Upon publication of its English translation in 2009, it became a "surprise bestseller" in both the US and UK.[5]
On 14 May 2014 it was announced that Pérez would direct the film based on an adaptation he cowrote with Achim von Borries.[2] Emma Thompson, Mark Rylance, and Daniel Brühl were named for the principal roles.[2] It is being produced by X-Filme's Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott (German rights), Master Movies' Marco Pacchioni (French rights) and Filmwave's Christian Grass and Paul Trijbits, and James Schamus.[2]
On 26 March 2015 Rylance was replaced by Brendan Gleeson.[4] Other crew members are cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne, production designer Jean-Vincent Puzos, and editor François Gédigier.[4] Alison Thompson is set to handle most foreign sales for the film through her Sunray Films,[6] although Pathé will release it in French-speaking areas.[6]
Filming
Principal photography on the film began on 27 March 2015 in Berlin.[4][3] It was also shot in Cologne and Görlitz.[3]
See also
- Every Man Dies Alone (1947 West German novel; German: Jeder stirbt für sich allein)
- Everyone Dies Alone (1962 West German film; Jeder stirbt für sich allein)
- Jeder stirbt für sich allein (1970 East German miniseries)
- Everyone Dies Alone (1975 West German film; Jeder stirbt für sich allein)
References
- ↑ "Berlinale 2016: First Films for Competition and Berlinale Special". Berlinale. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kemp, Stuart (14 May 2014). "Cannes: Emma Thompson, Daniel Bruhl Join 'Alone In Berlin'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Roxborough, Scott (26 March 2015). "'Alone in Berlin' Starring Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson Begins Shoot". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 Barraclough, Leo (26 March 2015). "Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson Movie 'Alone in Berlin' Starts to Shoot". variety.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- 1 2 Dalya Alberge, "Hans Fallada's anti-Nazi classic becomes surprise UK bestseller" The Observer (23 May 2010). Retrieved 6 March 2012
- 1 2 Kemp, Stuart (29 April 2014). "Cannes: Alison Thompson to Launch Sunray Films with 'Alone in Berlin'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 29 March 2015.