The Statement
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THE STATEMENT A Robert Lantos Production A Norman Jewison Film Written by Ronald Harwood Starring Michael Caine Tilda Swinton Jeremy Northam Based on the Novel by Brian Moore A Sony Pictures Classics Release 120 minutes EAST COAST: WEST COAST: EXHIBITOR CONTACTS: FALCO INK BLOCK-KORENBROT SONY PICTURES CLASSICS SHANNON TREUSCH MELODY KORENBROT CARMELO PIRRONE ERIN BRUCE ZIGGY KOZLOWSKI ANGELA GRESHAM 850 SEVENTH AVENUE, 8271 MELROSE AVENUE, 550 MADISON AVENUE, SUITE 1005 SUITE 200 8TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10024 LOS ANGELES, CA 90046 NEW YORK, NY 10022 PHONE: (212) 445-7100 PHONE: (323) 655-0593 PHONE: (212) 833-8833 FAX: (212) 445-0623 FAX: (323) 655-7302 FAX: (212) 833-8844 Visit the Sony Pictures Classics Internet site at: http:/www.sonyclassics.com THE STATEMENT A ROBERT LANTOS PRODUCTION A NORMAN JEWISON FILM Directed by NORMAN JEWISON Produced by ROBERT LANTOS NORMAN JEWISON Screenplay by RONALD HARWOOD Based on the novel by BRIAN MOORE Director of Photography KEVIN JEWISON Production Designer JEAN RABASSE Edited by STEPHEN RIVKIN, A.C.E. ANDREW S. EISEN Music by NORMAND CORBEIL Costume Designer CARINE SARFATI Casting by NINA GOLD Co-Producers SANDRA CUNNINGHAM YANNICK BERNARD ROBYN SLOVO Executive Producers DAVID M. THOMPSON MARK MUSSELMAN JASON PIETTE MICHAEL COWAN Associate Producer JULIA ROSENBERG a SERENDIPITY POINT FILMS ODESSA FILMS COMPANY PICTURES co-production in association with ASTRAL MEDIA in association with TELEFILM CANADA in association with CORUS ENTERTAINMENT in association with MOVISION in association with SONY PICTURES CLASSICS and BBC FILMS MICHAEL CAINE PIERRE BROSSARD TILDA SWINTON ANNEMARIE LIVI JEREMY NORTHAM COLONEL ROUX ALAN BATES ARMAND BERTIER JOHN BOSWALL FATHER LEO MATT CRAVEN DAVID MANENBAUM FRANK FINLAY COMMISSAIRE VIONNET CIARÁN HINDS POCHON WILLIAM HUTT LE MOYNE NOAM JENKINS MICHAEL LEVY DAVID DE KEYSER DOM ANDRÉ JOHN NEVILLE OLD MAN EDWARD PETHERBRIDGE DOM VLADIMIR CHARLOTTE RAMPLING NICOLE COLIN SALMON FATHER PATRICE MALCOLM SINCLAIR CARDINAL OF LYON PETER WIGHT INSPECTOR CHOLET At 5:00am, on June 29, 1944, in Rillieux-la-Pape, France, seven Jews were executed. This film is dedicated to those seven men and the 77,000 other French Jews that perished under German occupation and the Vichy Regime. After France fell to Germany in 1940, the Vichy regime was set up under Marshal Pétain. In 1943, the Vichy government created a military force called the Milice to carry out the orders of the Nazi occupiers. When the war was over, many of those involved were prosecuted for war crimes. Some got away. A few rose to power. SHORT SYNOPSIS Set in modern day France, THE STATEMENT is the story of Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine) who, as a young man during World War II, committed a heinous crime. Brossard has never been brought to trial and has lived a peaceful and anonymous life sheltered by right-wing elements within the Catholic church. A new investigation into his crimes is launched by an ambitious Judge (Tilda Swinton) and a scrupulous Colonel (Jeremy Northam). Even though Brossard manages to outwit the state investigation, he is simultaneously tracked by mysterious hit men. With two hunters on his heels, this Brossard must try to stay alive and find out who is after him. LONG SYNOPSIS Dombey, France, 1944 – In line with Nazi commands, PIERRE BROSSARD (Michael Caine), a young officer in the Vichy Milice, gives the order for the execution of 7 Jews. France, Present Day – DAVID MANENBAUM (Matt Craven), 42, has been hired to kill a man he can identify only through an old photograph to be Pierre Brossard. He is to leave a statement on the body citing this act as justice for the Jews of Dombey. He waits at a bar in the cote d’Azur, knowing that Brossard is due to arrive to pick up a letter. Recognizing Brossard, he follows him out of the bar and then by car into the deserted hillside. When David attempts to ambush him on the road to the Abbey de St Cros, the wily and quick Brossard manages to turn the tables and instead kills David, disposing of the body by rolling his car over a cliff into a ravine. Shaken by the encounter, Brossard realizes that he must find new shelter immediately. Aside from being protected by elements within the church, Brossard has also been helped by a group of former Vichy colleagues. He turns to his Vichy contact, COMMISSAIRE VIONNET (Frank Finlay), for guidance. Meanwhile, in the Palais de Justice in Paris, JUDGE ANNEMARIE LIVI (Tilda Swinton) opens her investigation of Brossard who has now been charged with crimes against humanity. Annemarie explains to COLONEL ROUX (Jeremy Northam), whom she has enlisted to assist her, that they must be wary of everyone until they discover who has been sheltering Brossard for all these years. She also adds that she is determined to expose the church as an accomplice for providing BROSSARD with a safe haven. Unbeknownst to Annemarie, David’s failure means that another hit man – MICHAEL LEVY (Noam Jenkins) – has been placed on Brossard’s trail. Michael’s sole contact with his employers is through a man named POCHON (Ciarán Hinds) who gives him instructions. Through various intercepts, Annemarie and Roux advance their investigation to the point where they now believe that Brossard has been hidden by a secret group within the church called the Chevaliers and that a vigilante Jewish organization is trying to assassinate Brossard. Annemarie’s diligence catches the attention of high government officials and she is called in to see MINISTER BERTIER (Alan Bates), an old family friend who nevertheless warns her against pursuing this matter. He threatens her with dire consequences. But ANNEMARIE LIVI is not so easily deterred. Roux visits Brossard’s confessor and champion MONSIGNOR LE MOYNE (William Hutt) to whom just hours previously Brossard admitted his culpability in David’s death. Roux is unable to extract information from Le Moyne because Le Moyne defends Brossard as a man who once erred but has since become a repentant Christian. As David’s body is discovered in the ravine near St Cros, Roux heads to the region to gather evidence from the local police. Annemarie, frustrated by the lack of answers, is determined to go public with Brossard’s photograph – convinced that the press coverage will force him out into the open. In one sense she proves to be correct as Brossard is turned away from some religious houses that are worried both about the newspapers and the new directive from the Cardinal de Lyon forbidding anyone to help Brossard. In another sense, however, this exposure drives Brossard into deeper hiding. Brossard goes to the one place he knows no one will find him: the apartment of his estranged wife, NICOLE (Charlotte Rampling). Less than thrilled to see him, Nicole only allows him to stay when he threatens to harm her beloved dog. The investigation by Annemarie and Roux as well as the instructions given to Michael point them all in the direction of an Abbey where, indeed, Brossard is hiding. At the crack of dawn, with Michael waiting in a nearby car, Roux and Annemarie arrive with soldiers and a search warrant. Unluckily for them all, Brossard, with instincts sharpened from years of hiding, evades them at the last moment. In his haste, he abandons many of his personal effects and these serve as valuable clues for Roux and Annemarie. Brossard hurries to the Bar Mathieu where he expects his usual stipend to arrive by post. At the bar, Michael waits in the toilet, hoping to kill Brossard. Brossard again is too suspicious and too quick, shooting MICHAEL before he can draw his gun. He escapes before Michael’s body is found and the police are involved. Hunted from all sides, Brossard moves again – this time to the Priory of St Donat. In Brossard’s possessions, Roux and Annemarie discover a list of Abbeys with dates alongside. They also find an old photograph from 1944 showing Brossard and another young man. Could this young man be the octogenarian for whom Pochon works? Back in Paris, we see Pochon being scolded by an elderly gentleman who now commands that Pochon himself get rid of Brossard. Brossard contacts his Vichy contact, the Commissaire, and learns that their mutual friend Pochon will meet him with a passport and everything needed to start a new life. Meanwhile, Roux and Annemarie plan another ambush – on the Priory of St Donat. Again, they are foiled by members of the church who help Brossard escape before they can search the Priory. They learn of the Commissaire’s connection to Brossard and send the police to arrest him. Under interrogation the Commissaire provides details for the rendezvous between Pochon and Brossard. Roux and Annemarie rush to the meeting place but are too late. POCHON has already executed Brossard, pinning the Statement to his chest. It is, however, Brossard’s death that allows Annemarie to apprehend Pochon and through him, uncover the deeper conspiracy. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND PART I THE NEW YORK TIMES ON THE NOVEL, THE STATEMENT by BRIAN MOORE “A Question of Conscience” By Eugene Weber June 30, 1996 The German occupation of France and its factious fallout provide the raw material of Brian Moore's powerful new novel. Between 1940 and 1944, more than one in four of the 330,000 Jews living on French territory were deported. The majority were identified, arrested and shipped off by French administrators and the French police, without whose zealous cooperation German forces in France would have been unable to carry out the job. In a time of want, fear and national humiliation, few of the French cared about what happened to the Jews.