THE TASTERS - LE ASSAGGIATRICI

• 123mins |

GERMAN LANGUAGE WITH SUBTITLES

***SCREENING AS PART OF THE CHICHESTER FILM FESTIVAL***

Silvio Soldini | 2025 | 123 MINS

Italy/Belgium/Switzerland | Subtitles

Preview: European Cinema

Rosa Sauer (Elisa Schlott) flees her bombed-out Berlin apartment, moves in with her in-laws, all while her husband, a German soldier, is fighting in Ukraine. Not too far away in a forest surrounded by barbed wire is the "Wolf's Lair" - the Eastern Front military headquarters of Adolf Hitler.

Rosa lands among a group of war-weary young women, long deprived of sufficient food, who are forcibly recruited by the SS. They are driven every day to Hitler's complex to serve as his food tasters, dining on abundant vegetarian delicacies three times a day. The only price: risking their lives with each bite as they are tasked with making sure that the food intended for Adolf Hitler has not been poisoned.

The extraordinary account by then 95-year-old Margot Wölk created a sensation when it first appeared in a Berlin tabloid more than a decade ago. Her decision to break decades of silence about her wartime experiences captured the imagination of German reporters, then global media, finally inspiring a documentary, two novels and a play. You may remember the director from his wonderful 2000 film ‘Bread and Tulips’..