This intriguing World War II drama, while loosely based in truth, doesn’t quite hit the spot
In 2012, a 95-year-old German woman named Margot Wölk claimed to have been one of a small group of women recruited to work as food tasters for Adolf Hitler during World War II. These women were all living near Hitler’s ‘Wolf’s Lair’ in what was then East Prussia, now Poland. Each day, they were supposedly forced to eat the food due to be served to the Führer to ensure it had not been poisoned. Wölk’s extraordinary tale provoked extensive media coverage, as well as widespread scepticism from historians. No supporting evidence has yet been uncovered and Wölk claimed to be the only one of the women who survived the war.
The Tasters, the new film by Italian director Silvio Soldini, is based on a historical fiction novel inspired by Wölk’s story. It follows Rosa Sauer (Elisa Schlott), a young secretary from Berlin who relocates to the rural home of her in-laws after her mother is killed in a bombing raid. Her husband Gregor is away fighting on the Eastern Front. One morning, she is rounded up into a van with six other confused young woman and driven to a military barracks. There, the women are told they have a vital role to play in the war effort. Their job is to taste the delectable vegetarian dishes due to be served to their Führer. After eating, they must sit at the table for an additional hour, awaiting the effects of any possible poisons that may or may not have been secreted into the food.
It’s a well-made film, with strong performances and decent cinematography. Hitler’s physical absence from scenes is particularly effective. It creates a constant, looming sense of unseen oppression and dread signalled primarily through sound. The noisy cacophony of his train passing through the countryside, indicating his imminent arrival at the Wolf’s Lair. His personal chef telling an anecdote about how Hitler decided to become a vegetarian after visiting an abattoir and wading through blood. His voice crackling over the radio. The score sounds like something from a horror film, moments of silence interspersed by screeching strings. The sound design focuses in on the munching and chewing of the women as they force down meal after meal.
The film’s biggest weakness is the wafer thinness of the source material. Whether or not Wölk’s account is true, we know from history that Hitler was never poisoned. As a result, the film is forced to look elsewhere for its drama and jeopardy. It tries to find it in the human relationships between the women, and the secrets they are hiding from each other. Unfortunately, this search leads to a late reveal that feels so shoe-horned and implausible that it’s likely to provoke eye-rolls from audiences. Any sympathy for Sauer as a central protagonist is also fatally undermined by her decision to start sleeping with the most hideously evil Nazi officer imaginable, Lieutenant Albert Ziegler (Max Riemelt). She continues this romantic entanglement despite Ziegler’s open admission that he’s a war criminal and a mass murderer.
It all ends up leaving a rather nasty taste in the mouth.
By Barney Pell Scholes
The Tasters is in cinemas now.