| Jew Suss: Rise and Fall | |
| Director: | Oskar Roehler |
| Producer: | Franz Novotny Markus Zimmer |
| Starring: | Tobias Moretti Moritz Bleibtreu Martina Gedeck |
| Cinematography: | Carl-Friedrich Koschnick |
| Editing: | Bettina Böhler |
| Music: | Martin Todsharow |
| Runtime: | 100 minutes |
| Country: | Germany |
| Language: | German |
Jew Suss: Rise and Fall (German title: Jud Süss – Film ohne Gewissen) is a 2010 German historical drama film directed by Oskar Roehler, dramatising the creative process behind the antisemitic Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß (1940). It was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.[1]
In Germany, the film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and, mainly because of the controversial subject matter, received mixed reviews. Nevertheless, the German critics lauded the actor Tobias Moretti in his role as Ferdinand Marian.[2] In 2011, cinematographer Carl-Friedrich Koschnick received the Austrian Romy award for cinematography.
When Ferdinand Marian's career is on the rise at the end of the 1930s, the Austrian actor is personally selected by the Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels for the title role in the feature film Jud Süß. Marian at first rejects the offer, but then succumbs to the temptation of a recognizing career. Whilst filming under director Veit Harlan, Marian begins to change, which leads to an argument with his Jewish wife, Anna. Jud Süß premieres at the Venice Film Festival at the beginning of September 1940 and opens in German cinemas a few days later. There, the anti-Semitic propaganda film reaches an audience of millions, and from then on Marian is identified as the role of the threatening-looking Jewish tax officer, Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, and he receives many deals to act in other films.
Now part of the German Reich, Marian gets to know the threat behind the National Socialists, which drove many of his professional colleagues into exile. The Jewish actor Wilhelm Adolf Deutscher, hidden in Marian's garden house and disguised as a gardener, is betrayed to his friend Lutz by the domestic servant Britta, with whom Marian apparently had an affair. Marian then takes solace drinking alcohol and cheats on his wife with a Czech woman named Vlasta. Joseph Goebbels deports Anna in order to gain control over Marian, but this causes an opposite effect.
As the Nazi regime falls at the end of the Second World War, Marian is not allowed to resume acting because of his involvement in Jud-Süß and the Nazis. At the same time, he has to watch many of his professional colleagues go into hiding and is confronted by the American military. Jud-Süß director Veit Harlan insists that he was forced to make the film. Marian then encounters his friend Wilhelm, who survived a Nazi concentration camp but learns form him that Marian's wife's Anna is dead. Finally, Marian discovers that Vlasta is having an affair with a U.S. soldier; this leads him to a break down and commit suicide by car crash.
In the film Marian commits suicide by driving his car into a tree at high speed. According to Marian's biographer, Marian did die in his car, but it’s unclear whether the reason was suicide, drunkenness, or something else.[3]