German director Volker Schlöndorff obviously has a penchant for literary adaptations: with The Tin Drum (1979), based on Günter Grass' novel, he won a Foreign Language Academy Award. With The Passenger (1990), adapted from Max Frisch's Homo Faber, he earned rave reviews.
In his new epic The Ogre, based on Michel Tournier's critically acclaimed bestseller, Schlöndorff tells the story of the French prisoner of war Abel Tiffauges (John Malkovich) who is led, by a series of twists of fate, to the inner sanctum of high-ranking officers of the Third Reich, including Hermann Göring (Volker Spengler) himself.
Abel, a frightening giant with an obsessive love for children, finds himself on a scary mission: traversing the countryside on horseback, he is to recruit boys for one of the SS elite schools located in the historic castle at Kaltenborn. Abel, on his odyssey through deviance and heroism, is seemingly transforming into a monster, and at the same time saving the lives of the children: a naïve soul, who cannot see any contradiction in his deeds. His perspective of life was shaped through the death of his classmate, his only friend and protector, Nestor, who died when their boarding school burnt down: "That day I understood that fate was real, that she was cruel and that she was on my side. I would be protected, saved and guided, while others would be harshly, savagely, tossed into the void.'
Part tragedy, part fairy tale, The Ogre is the most ambitious production of the new Studio Babelsberg to date. Shooting took place in Poland, France, Studio Babelsberg and Norway, where the key scenes with an elk, a shy, strange animal that Abel befriends, and a moving reflection of Abel's generous stature and tender character, were shot. Principal photography started July 1995 and ended December 1995.
The Ogre is a German-French-British co-production, backed up by three of the Europe's top producers Ingrid Windisch (Wings of Desire), Claude Berri (Germinal) and Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor) with a budget of US$19 million. The adaptation of Tournier's novel, which has been translated into 16 languages, fell to Jean-Claude Carrière (The Tin Drum, Cyrano de Bergerac), who worked together with Schlöndorff himself on the script.
Responsible for the magical and mysterious look was set designer Ezio Frigerio (Cyrano de Bergerac), whose greatest challenges were the poetic-realistic design of Abel's garage (shot in Paris) and the opulent interior of Göring's hunting estate, Jägerhof (shot in Studio Babelsberg). As Frigerio points out, "Göring's hunting lodge looks like both a monument to the hunt and an ogre's den."
" Volker Schlöndorff, who returned to Germany from the US after the fall of the Berlin wall, and put all his efforts to rescue the ex-UFA/DEFA Studios in Babelsberg, is very proud that The Ogre was shot in Babelsberg. From 1992 on he has dedicated his working life to transform it into a modern and functioning studio.
"We built all the interiors for The Ogre in Babelsberg, "says Schlöndorff. "Even the Gothic castle, which is more Gothic than a real Gothic castle."
John Malkovich is cast perfectly as Abel, according to Schlöndorff: "Throughout the film John seems to be getting physically bigger and bigger until he looks like an ogre." Alongside Malkovich are Armin Mueller-Stahl as the Nazi, Graf von Kaltenborn, who later becomes an important figure in the attempt on Hitler's life, Gottfried John and Marianne Sägebrecht as the warmhearted matron of the SS preparatory school.
The Ogre, so far sold to France and Germany and with sales negotiations with US territories on the way, makes its world premiere in Venice.
Silke Schütze
Prod cos: Studio Babelsberg, Renn Productions, Recorded Picture
Co Prod: Ingrid Windisch
Scr: Jean-Claude Carrière, Volker Schlöndorff
Ph: Bruno de Keyzer, BSC
Prod des: Ezio Frigerio
Costumes: Anna Shephard
Music: Michael Nyman
Ed: Nicolas Gaster
Cast: John Malkovich, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gottfried John, Marianne Sägebrecht, Hein Ferch
Running time: 118 mins
Int'l sales: UGC DA
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