Diplomacy

Name: Diplomacy
Genre: Drama
Released: October 15, 2014
Duration: 84 min
Rating: 72

2014

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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6.6

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6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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Diplomacy

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Movie Details & Credits

Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: October 15, 2014 | Not Rated

Summary: 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 (Niels Arestrup), who already hasAs 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 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 (André Dussollier) 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 .… Expand

Director: Volker Schlöndorff

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 84 min

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Critic Reviews

Peter Rainer

Oct 17, 2014

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. Read full review

Jordan Mintzer

Oct 6, 2014

This terrifically performed piece of filmed theater is filled with twists, turns and underhanded schemes that show how history sometimes lies in the hands of a selected few, not to mention a good glass of Chardonnay. Read full review

David Denby

Oct 19, 2014

The principal suspense in this fascinating movie is generated by the polite, and then not so polite, ferocity of the arguments between the two men. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Godfrey Cheshire

Oct 16, 2014

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. Read full review

Serena Donadoni

Oct 14, 2014

Arestrup and Dussollier originated these roles on stage, but Schlöndorff (who directed the Hoffman/Malkovich Death of a Salesman) gives it the immediacy of a life-and-death encounter. Read full review

Michael O'Sullivan

Nov 20, 2014

The movie is an intellectual puzzle, the outcome of which is never in doubt. Its minor thrills come not from not knowing what will happen, but from watching the cagey choreography of two acrobatic minds. Read full review

Tom Russo

Nov 6, 2014

The dialogue also reflects the material’s stage origins in ways that don’t always translate well. Read full review

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netflic

Nov 7, 2014

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 Hitler's order to blow up Paris, to disobey the orders and save the greatFrom 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 Hitler's 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.… Expand

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LowbrowCinema

Nov 11, 2014

DIPLOMACY has an important tale to tell. How Paris was saved from Nazi 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.

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