SummaryAs 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 (Niels Arestrup), who already has mines pla... Read More
Directed By:Volker Schlöndorff
Written By:Cyril Gely, Volker Schlöndorff
Diplomacy
Metascore
Generally Favorable
72
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
79% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
21% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Oct 17, 2014
91
Since we all know that Paris wasn’t blown to smithereens, the tension here is not in the outcome but in how it was achieved. The meeting between these two men is largely fictional, but the stakes could not have been more real.
Dec 12, 2014
88
We know how the story ends: Nordling persuades Choltitz to back down. Yet, the film somehow maintains a razor-sharp sense of suspense throughout. And it ends with a delicious plot twist that makes one rethink Nordling's moral superiority.
Oct 6, 2014
80
To be sure, we are in that authorial fantasy by which historical figures become shrewder, sharper and wittier than they surely were in life — the domain of Peter Morgan and Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” But when the actors and the dialogue are this good, one scarcely objects.
Oct 16, 2014
75
A compelling historical drama in Diplomacy, which benefits greatly from the razor-sharp, theater-honed skills of two formidable French actors, Niels Arestrup and André Dussollier, who created the roles on stage.
Oct 14, 2014
67
It’s a stagy setup whose theatrical roots are always front and center, yet it’s one that’s handled with aplomb by director Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum), whose latest has enough visual panache to compensate for the static, conversational nature of the work.
Oct 14, 2014
60
Diplomacy’s origins as a play (written by Cyril Gely and starring the same actors) are always evident. Despite Schlöndorff’s attempts to give the movie some pop through widescreen lensing and noirish lighting, it’s a visually staid affair—very “filmed theater.” Fortunately, both Arestrup and Dussolier are captivating presences.
Nov 6, 2014
50
The dialogue also reflects the material’s stage origins in ways that don’t always translate well.
User score
Generally Favorable
56% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
44% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Nov 7, 2014
6
From the director of 'Tin Drum', one of my all time favorites, Volker Schlöndorff, comes a new movie "Diplomacy". In this history-reenactment movie a Swedish diplomat is trying to persuade a German general, who has **** order to blow up Paris, to disobey the orders and save the great city along with hundreds of thousands of Parisians from destruction. As we all know, Paris was not blown up, so that mission succeeded obviously. Both main leads show a good performance but not a spectacular one. The whole movie seems a bit too theatrical. The director's idea that diplomacy works baffles me. The whole history of the WWII (with very few exceptions like this story) proves exactly the opposite. Overall I liked the movie but was not very impressed by it.
Nov 11, 2014
5
DIPLOMACY has an important tale to tell. How Paris was saved from **** destruction due to two brave men. How all the life is drained out of this story is the mystery of DIPLOMACY. One more limp film from Volker Schlondorff.
Production Company:
- Gaumont
- Film Oblige
- Blueprint Film
- Arte France Cinéma
- Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
- Südwestrundfunk (SWR)
- ARTE
- Canal+
- Ciné+
- Eurimages
- La Région Île-de-France
- Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)
- Medien- und Filmgesellschaft (MFG) Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg
- Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA)
Release Date:Oct 15, 2014
Duration:1 h 24 m
Tagline:August, 1944. One night to save the monuments of Paris from destruction.
Awards
Valladolid International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
César Awards, France
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Shanghai International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
