Some books are like impregnable citadels. Such is the case of Fred Uhlman's L'Ami retrouvé (The Newfound Friend), once adapted by Jerry Schatzberg as Seul dans Berlin (Alone in Berlin), now brought to the screen by Vincent Perez, which has already inspired three other versions. Hans Fallada's novel, centered on the occupants of a building, focuses on a couple shattered by the death of their only son, who decide to perpetrate a derisory gesture of resistance against Hitler's regime by calling for revolt and sedition in postcards scattered anonymously among the population, but just as promptly recovered by the police. An authentic act of distress, already the subject of the documentary Seuls contre Hitler (Alone against Hitler), whose fictionalized version serves as a pretext for a vivid picture of daily life in Berlin during the war, and a perspective on the rival agencies responsible for maintaining order. A departure from the idyllic image of a population united behind its Führer. Perez cautiously takes a back seat to his subject without ever trying to outsmart him, and surrounds himself with a first-rate cast. Although the use of the English language (dictated by obvious commercial contingencies) proves somewhat disturbing for the first five minutes, Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson justify this questionable artistic license with their exemplary restraint, imposing themselves in the roles of silent rebels confronted with an unsavory human sampling.
Jean-Philippe GUERAND
Alone in Berlin. Franco-German film by Vincent PEREZ (2016), with Emma THOMPSON, Brendan GLEESON, Daniel BRÜHL. 1h 43.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34zI19Byxsc
