12. Stefan Zweig - Farewell to Europe (Vor der Morgenröte); movie review Barbara Sukowa

STEFAN ZWEIG - FAREWELL TO EUROPE
Cert TBA
106 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

"I believe in a free Europe. I believe that borders and passports will one day be history but I doubt I’ll be there to experience it.”
It seems hard to believe that there was a world renowned pacifist who predicted a united Europe back in the 1930s.
But Stefan Zweig was known for thinking out of the box. He also refused to publicly condemn the Nazi machine despite being a Jew who was forced to flee his native Austria.
As difficult as it was for some to swallow, Zweig had good reasoning - he simply thought it was too easy to preach to the converted.
According to this Maria Schrader biopic, Zweig actually felt progressive despair about the plight of the world and in particular his fellow writers and Jews, up to his suicide in 1942.
Much of the movie, which stars Josef Hader in the title role, is set in Brazil where Zweig admired the acceptance of different ethnicities and religions.
It is also a country in which he was feted in the 1930s for being one of the most famous writers in the world.
Only passing mention is made of Zweig's specific work during the movie, instead it concentrates on his fame, relationships and his life in the context of the tumult elsewhere in the world.
Hader deliberately underplays him so I am presuming that he was not given to great emotional outbursts.
It touches on his divorce from his first wife, Friderike (Barbara Sukowa) while being set at the time of his marriage to his much younger secretary (Aenne Schwarz).
But it doesn't come to any grand conclusions about his motivations of either his writing, his opinion or his death.
Unlike his contemporaries, Thomas Mann and Bertold Brecht, Stefan Zweig was unknown to me before watching Schrader's film.
Because the latter is so low-key, I doubt his name would have stayed long in my memory if had not have been for his prophecy over Europe.
Today, it is ironic that Britain is on the cusp of leaving it while millions, seeing it as a safer than home,  flock here.

Reasons to watch: a biopic of one of the great writers of the 20s and 30s
Reasons to avoid: it doesn't really enlighten about his writings or motivations

Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6/10

Director's quote - Initially, I was under pressure to have a major star, and to make it in English, but I said ‘No! It’s about exile. It’s about a writer who can’t publish in his own language anymore!’ 

The big question - was the world a better place when writers were feted as celebrities?

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