Führer and Seducer
by
Joachim A. Lang
Director Joachim A. Lang (Mack the Knife) puts an end to the underestimation and trivialization of Goebbels' Nazi propaganda without ever diminishing the responsibility of millions of Germans for the crimes of the Third Reich.
Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, accompanies Hitler during the seven years from the "Anschluss" of Austria in March 1938 to the murder and suicide in the Führerbunker in May 1945. While Hitler is at the height of his power, Goebbels is the creator of the pictures of the flag waving crowds and of the anti-Semitic films "Jud Süß" and "Der ewige Jude", that prepare the people for the mass murder of the Jews. After the defeat at Stalingrad and the situation becoming increasingly hopeless in late 1944, Goebbels plans the most radical propaganda act, his last staging, with Hitler's suicide, the murder of his family, and his own suicide.
Genre
/ Language
/ Length
Drama
/ German / 123 minutes
Original title
Führer und Verführer
directed by
Joachim A. Lang
director of photography
Klaus Fuxjäger
screenplay by
Joachim A. Lang
produced by
Zeitsprung Pictures in co-production with SWR, Maya and ActHQ
Cast
- Robert Stadlober (CRAZY, SUMMER STORM, DAS BOOT)
- Fritz Karl (SISI)
- Franziska Weisz (THE SWARM, STATIONS OF THE CROSS)
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Press Quotes
"Deconstructs the extraordinary propaganda operation orchestrated over seven years by Joseph Goebbels, and plunges into the inner circle of the Nazi leadership. An unavoidably austere and terrifying, but fascinating huis clos."
"A perilous artistic experiment... The images plunge us into the heart of the Nazi nightmare."
"A serious film, nourished by the utmost historical rigor, departing from the genres hitherto favored to tell the story of the abomination that was the Third Reich, comedies and documentaries."
"This is the ultimate ambition of Führer and Seducer, to explain, with the best and worst of examples, the methods of contemporary authoritarian regimes, playing on artifice and lies to enslave the masses, by generating a parallel reality. The German citizens of 1938 swallowed Goebbels' lies, just as today's Russians support, or pretend to support, Vladimir Putin's propaganda and wars of conquest. The paralelism of the forms, and of this terrifying collective mystification in the name of a criminal ideology, makes one dizzy. This is undoubtedly the aim of the filmmakers."
Le Figaro
"Powerful"
"The film takes the viewer backstage, making them more wary of the power of images and manipulative strategies as they watch Goebbels create his deceptions and distortions of reality in conceiving and rehearsing speeches."
The Guardian
"How propaganda is created and where it can lead - a must-see!"
Cinema
"Führer and Seducer shows how effectively Goebbels concealed the truth to feed his propaganda machine."
Rolling Stone
"This perspective seems particularly important today, as right-wing demagogues deliberately use disinformation. Therefore, Lang's film also focuses on the Minister of Propaganda; the film shows the Nazi clique from his point of view."
EPD Film
"This makes the impressive film a demanding piece of cinema: Anything but easy to digest, this 'Making-of of National Socialism' is definitely worth engaging with."
Filmstarts
"This film impressively combines archive footage and feature film action, but not just to prove how it was, but the archive images show Goebbels' propaganda surface and the feature film reveals the action behind it. The film is a masterful close-up of this terrifying regime."
ARD Artour
"Führer and Seducer gains a highly current relevance... This is because the manipulation strategies from back then are still models for today's populists. Führer and Seducer is a film about the danger of seduction—and against forgetting."
NDR Info
"Today, the media means are even more diverse, and demagogues of our time master their repertoire. Therefore, Lang has made exactly the right film at the right time."
Augsburger Allgemeine
"It is a radically different, refreshingly new approach. And it gives filmmakers and actors freedom. Because archive footage is known well enough. Here, it shows what happened behind the scenes, according to sources like Goebbels' diaries."
Berliner Morgenpost
"Führer and Seducer is a powerful lesson on the mechanics of manipulation, which Goebbels mastered so perfectly, but also on the opportunism of those who allowed themselves to be drawn into the propaganda machine with privileges."
RBB Radio 1
"A perilous artistic experiment... The images plunge us into the heart of the Nazi nightmare."
"A serious film, nourished by the utmost historical rigor, departing from the genres hitherto favored to tell the story of the abomination that was the Third Reich, comedies and documentaries."
"This is the ultimate ambition of Führer and Seducer, to explain, with the best and worst of examples, the methods of contemporary authoritarian regimes, playing on artifice and lies to enslave the masses, by generating a parallel reality. The German citizens of 1938 swallowed Goebbels' lies, just as today's Russians support, or pretend to support, Vladimir Putin's propaganda and wars of conquest. The paralelism of the forms, and of this terrifying collective mystification in the name of a criminal ideology, makes one dizzy. This is undoubtedly the aim of the filmmakers."
Le Figaro
"Powerful"
"The film takes the viewer backstage, making them more wary of the power of images and manipulative strategies as they watch Goebbels create his deceptions and distortions of reality in conceiving and rehearsing speeches."
The Guardian
"How propaganda is created and where it can lead - a must-see!"
Cinema
"Führer and Seducer shows how effectively Goebbels concealed the truth to feed his propaganda machine."
Rolling Stone
"This perspective seems particularly important today, as right-wing demagogues deliberately use disinformation. Therefore, Lang's film also focuses on the Minister of Propaganda; the film shows the Nazi clique from his point of view."
EPD Film
"This makes the impressive film a demanding piece of cinema: Anything but easy to digest, this 'Making-of of National Socialism' is definitely worth engaging with."
Filmstarts
"This film impressively combines archive footage and feature film action, but not just to prove how it was, but the archive images show Goebbels' propaganda surface and the feature film reveals the action behind it. The film is a masterful close-up of this terrifying regime."
ARD Artour
"Führer and Seducer gains a highly current relevance... This is because the manipulation strategies from back then are still models for today's populists. Führer and Seducer is a film about the danger of seduction—and against forgetting."
NDR Info
"Today, the media means are even more diverse, and demagogues of our time master their repertoire. Therefore, Lang has made exactly the right film at the right time."
Augsburger Allgemeine
"It is a radically different, refreshingly new approach. And it gives filmmakers and actors freedom. Because archive footage is known well enough. Here, it shows what happened behind the scenes, according to sources like Goebbels' diaries."
Berliner Morgenpost
"Führer and Seducer is a powerful lesson on the mechanics of manipulation, which Goebbels mastered so perfectly, but also on the opportunism of those who allowed themselves to be drawn into the propaganda machine with privileges."
RBB Radio 1
Selected Festivals & Awards
Munich International Film Festival | Audience Award | awarded
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