German actors Elisa Schrott (TV series Das Boot), Max Riemelt (Sleeping Dogs) and Alma Hasson (Corsage) retell Italian director Silvio Soldini's untold true story. It has been decided that he will star in the drama “The Tasters''. Women conscripted to serve as Adolf Hitler's food tasters.
Filming on the Nazi-era drama is scheduled to begin Friday in northern Italy's Alto Adige and will be directed by sales agent Katia Rossi's Rome-based Vision Distribution at the Cannes Marche du Film. It will be sold in advance.
Director Soldini is known for the sophisticated Cannes comedy “Bread and Tulips,'' as well as the romantic dramas “Days and Crows'' and “Come Undone.''
The Tasters, director Soldini's first foray into German-language film, is based on the best-selling book The Wolf's Table by Italian author Rosella Postolino. The story is about a group of women who are recruited by the SS in 1943 to ensure that the food served to Hitler is free of poison. The tasters, who were forced to eat potentially deadly food, were divided between those loyal to Hitler and those who risked their lives every day for the Führer but claimed they were not Nazis. They begin to split into two factions. Wolf's Table has been translated into 46 countries.
In the fall of 1943, young Rosa, fleeing bombed-out Berlin, arrives in a small, isolated town near the eastern border to seek refuge while awaiting the end of the war. Rosa soon discovers that the seemingly quiet village hides secrets. In the forest on the border lies the wolf's den, Hitler's stronghold. The Führer knows that there are enemies everywhere, and being poisoned is his obsession.
One morning, at dawn, Rosa is taken along with other young women from the village to sample the food prepared for the Führer. The provided synopsis states that, torn between the fear of death and the hunger that grips them, the tasters “form alliances, friendships, and secret pacts with each other.” At that time, an incident occurs that makes Rosa think that she is a traitor. The arrival of an SS officer who, against all reason, rekindled in her the spark of her love. Or maybe it's just “a simple desire to feel alive, despite everything,” the synopsis continues.
The Tasters is produced by Milan-based Lionello Celli's Lumiere & Company in collaboration with Belgium's Tarantula and Switzerland's Telfilm.