Principal photography on Silvio Soldini’s Le assaggiatrici (international title The Tasters) begins on 17 May 2024 in Alto Adige with Elisa Schlott, Max Riemelt, Alma Hasun.
The film is based on the novel by Rosella Postorino, winner of the 2018 Campiello Prize, which, published in 46 countries, has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Inspired by Hitler’s last food taster, a previously unknown story offers a new perspective to examine how not even war can wrench some things from the bodies and hearts of men and women.
The film is set in autumn 1943. Young Rosa flees bombed Berlin and heads for a small isolated town near the Eastern border where her in-laws live: this is where her husband, fighting at the front, told her to take refuge while awaiting the end of the war and his return. Rosa soon discovers that the quiet village hides a secret: Hitler has his headquarters, the Wolf's Den, in the neighbouring forest. The Führer sees enemies everywhere; being poisoned is his obsession. One morning at dawn, Rosa is taken with other young women from the village to taste the food intended for him. Torn between the fear of dying and the hunger that devours them, the "tasters" form alliances, friendships and secret pacts with each other. Rosa, the "Berliner", struggles to be accepted. But when she finally overcomes her mistrust, something happens that makes her feel like a traitor. The appearance of an SS officer who, against all sense and in spite of herself, reawakens love. Or perhaps it’s the simplest of things, the need to feel alive, despite everything.
Le assaggiatrici is an Italian-Belgian-Swiss coproduction
produced by Lumière & Co. in coproduction with Tarantula and Tellfilm
produced by Lionello Cerri and Cristiana Mainardi
coproduced by Joseph Rouschop, Katrin Renz and Stefan Jäger
Italian and international distribution Vision Distribution
with support from the Direzione generale Cinema e audiovisivo del MiC, IDM Film Commission Südtirol and Regione Lazio - Lazio Cinema International.