What to expect
Lubitsch makes performance itself the weapon. Repeated lines and entrances grow funnier while the danger around them becomes more exact, producing a rare balance of farce and wartime suspense.
How to ease in
Keep track of roles rather than uniforms. The troupe survives by deciding who must perform whom, and each repetition carries new information.
Heads-up
A quick, non-exhaustive note Contains Nazi occupation, antisemitic persecution in its historical setting, threatened executions, violence, and wartime danger.
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I am moved by the way theatrical vanity becomes courage without losing its ridiculous side. These performers save lives with the same instincts that once caused backstage quarrels.
— Momo
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