After her parents’ deaths, Rosa Sauer fled the bombs raining down on Berlin, taking refuge with the in-laws she hardly knows, while her husband Gregor serves on the Eastern Front. They are old and crusty, but reasonably welcoming. Herta still half believes the regime’s propaganda, but Joseph largely sees through their spin. Regardless, neither want her to work as a food tester, but she doesn’t have any choice. It also pays 200 Marks a month, which they need.
There is at least one true believer amongst the seven women (reduced from the ten in Postorino’s book, for dramatic simplicity). You would think they might show Sauer some deference, since her husband is currently deployed—but, no. One young woman is increasingly desperate to find a man, while another might be getting a little too close to her husband’s protégé, while he also serves at the front. It is a stressful job, but particularly so for the Jewish woman living under an assumed name and identity.
Of course, things get worse when SS Lt. Albert Ziegler takes over their tasting meals. Even when Ziegler and Sauer begin an affair, she gets little from it, except staying alive.
The screenplay, credited to Soldini and five other screenwriters, obviously went through a lot of drafts, but the final product wisely avoids cheap sentiment. This is a dark film, in which survival is the best many characters can hope for. The sober vibe is reinforced by Renato Berta’s dark, shadowy cinematography, and Mauro Pagano’s mournful string-heavy score.
The Tasters is a smart, sensitively executed film that deserves American distribution. However, it is good that it opened in Irish theaters, given the recent explosion of Irish antisemitism. (Someone should remind them they are supposed to root against the National Socialists.) Highly recommended, The Tasters is now playing in theaters in the UK and Ireland.
