In the night of August 24 to 25, 1944, the fate of the City of Lights is in the hands of Wermacht general Dietrich von Cholitz, Governor of the Greater Paris. Acting on Hitler’s orders, he is ready to blow up the entire city in order to delay the inevitable: the advance of the Allied troops to German soil and the end of WWII. Despite the million-and-a-half human casualties and the destruction of an invaluable cultural heritage, the Nazi general shows no sign of hesitation: the orders are to be carried out. Paris seems lost, until Raoul Nordling, the Consul of Sweden, shows up uninvited in von Cholitz’s hotel room. A career diplomat, he takes it upon himself to save a metropolis, and a human conscience as well.
One day at the archives, 60-something Andor decides to read through the file the secret police kept on him. To his surprise, he discovers that even his best friend János informed against him, for decades. This disturbing psychological drama from debuting Hungarian director and screenwriter Sára Cserhalmi treats a sensitive topic from the not-too-distant past that Hungary has yet to give due attention. The young director bravely asks unpleasant questions but she avoids absolute judgments. The film had its world premiere in the “East of the West” competition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and was awarded the prize of the Competition 1-2 in the Warsaw Film Festival.
The year is 1979. Because Jérome is in love with Carole, his cousin, because she wants to support the cause of the Jews in the Soviet Union, but especially because both of them are aged 20, the two embark on an adventure behind the Iron Curtain. In Odessa, they act as tourists during the day, and meet Jews who want to emigrate from USSR and are harassed by the Soviet authorities during the night. All changes when Viktor asks Jérome for a favor, and the latter has to choose between law and morals.
