ARYAN COUPLE - Steven Mackintosh

MOVIE REVIEW

'The Aryan Couple'

This stylish British thriller piles on the suspense.

By Kevin Thomas

Times Staff Writer

December 10, 2004

The Aryan Couple - N.Y. Times

''The Aryan Couple,'' directed by John Daly, is a minor example of a major genre: the feel-good Holocaust movie.It is not that Mr. Daly's film, which begins with a tour of the desolate modern-day landscape of Auschwitz, lacks seriousness. On the contrary, it is drenched in a somber piety abundantly conveyed by Igor Khoroshev's overwrought score and etched into the earnest faces of the talented cast. The problem, as it is so often in well-intentioned movies of this kind, is that rather than illuminate the enormity of Nazism, ''The Aryan Couple'' trades upon our knowledge of it for emotional impact.

The history that suggested this fictional story involves the Europa Plan, an arrangement conceived in 1944 in which wealthy European Jews traded their wealth and property for their lives. Martin Landau, with marvelous dignity, plays Josef Krauzenberg, a Hungarian steel manufacturer who is about to sign over his factories, his palace and his art collection to Heinrich Himmler in exchange for the safe passage of himself; his wife, Rachel (Judy Parfitt); and their extended family to Switzerland and then Palestine. Left behind will be his servants, Ingrid and Hans Vassman (Kenny Doughty and Caroline Carver), the Aryan couple of the title, who are actually undercover Jewish operatives in the anti-German resistance.

In other hands the story might have made for a sinister, queasy thriller, perhaps in the manner of early Hitchcock. But in spite of the relish with which able British actors portray high-ranking Nazis -- tapping their cigarettes on silver cases, knocking back draughts of whiskey, clicking their heels, just as in a hundred other movies -- ''The Aryan Couple'' sags and slogs.

The climactic dinner party, in which both Himmler (Danny Webb) and Adolf Eichmann (Steven Mackintosh) show up at the Krauzenberg mansion, could have been a macabre set piece, with the ultimate barbarism dressed up in the raiment of civility. Hitchcock or Roman Polanski might have known what to do with it, but Mr. Daly is too flat-footed and cautious a director and too timid a writer to give the horror of the situation its full measure of absurdity.

Instead there is an inadvertently ridiculous concluding chase, complete with drawn pistols and chuffing trains, in which we find ourselves rooting for Himmler against Eichmann and cheering (or chuckling) when a particularly odious Nazi dies an extravagantly hammy death. By then the simple gravity of the early scene has been frittered away in ungainly speechifying and sluggish suspense.

Nearly 60 years have passed since the end of World War II, yet "The Aryan Couple" demonstrates that, although the events of the Holocaust have been exhaustively documented, they can still serve as a background for acute suspense. In a seamless blend of fact and fiction, this handsome film is a splendid, stirring feat of the imagination in which a gifted, well-chosen cast headed by Martin Landau and Judy Parfitt have been matched by John Daly's astute direction and by Daly and Kendrew Lascelles' script, which is at once a clever feat of adroit dramatic construction, succinct characterization and an appreciation of the resilience of the human spirit.

In an unnamed city in Hungary, 1944, Landau's Josef Krauzenberg is quietly drawing upon his formidable resources of courage and dignity, on the most difficult day of his life. A steel magnate, he first bids goodbye to his devoted office staff, a fraction of his more than 3,000 employees. In the evening, he and his elegant wife, Rachel (Parfitt), will leave their townhouse for their country palace, which houses their renowned art collection. They will be entertaining at dinner none other than Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler (Danny Webb), who has in hand documents for them to sign, which state that in return for all their holdings the Krauzenbergs and their 30 relatives will be given safe passage to Palestine via Switzerland.

That such a transaction could even be contemplated was due to the Europa Plan, devised by activists in Slovakia's Jewish Center, by which Slovakian Jews could be saved from deportation and extermination by ransom. The group also tried with little success to export the plan to other European countries, including Hungary.

After months of negotiations and wrangling with the Germans, Josef Krauzenberg fully realizes how risky the deal he struck with the Germans is for him and his relatives. For that matter, so does Himmler, who has arrived without advance notice to Adolf Eichmann (Steve Mackintosh), a fanatic anti-Semite and chief of the Jewish Office of the Gestapo, because he fears Eichmann will betray the Krauzenbergs, whose relatives he has already rounded up. Himmler understands that because of the stature of Krauzenberg and his steelworks, such treachery would not be in the best interests of the Third Reich. Himmler doesn't subject the Krauzenbergs to Eichmann at their dinner table but allows him to join them for coffee afterward. It boggles the mind to witness the cultured and sophisticated Krauzenbergs being forced to entertain not one but two of history's greatest monsters.

They are, however, not entirely alone. Their last remaining servants, "The Aryan Couple," are a young German husband and wife, Hans (Kenny Doughty) and Ingrid Vassman (Caroline Carver), and the relationship between the Krauzenbergs, who are childless, and the Vassmans is one of deep mutual respect and affection. Yet the question of what is to happen to the Vassmans in the wake of their employers' scheduled departure doubles the film's suspense quotient.

In Landau's Krauzenberg, loosely based on the Hungarian Jewish industrialist Manfred Weiss, a gentle manner hides firm resolve while Parfitt's Rachel has an aristocratic manner and an acerbic bitterness that borders on dangerousness, given the circumstances. On the surface the Vassmans seem uncomplicated and obedient, but appearances prove deceptive. In Webb's Himmler a veneer of gentlemanliness could scarcely be thinner, and although not on his best day was the real Eichmann ever as good-looking as Mackintosh, the actor has a blandness of appearance and manner that makes this historic epitome of evil all the more chilling. As a brutal Eichmann aide, Christopher Fulford heads a fine supporting cast.

Engrossing and satisfying, "The Aryan Couple" shows just how vital a movie made in the solid British style of traditional filmmaking can be.

'The Aryan Couple'

MPAA rating: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and thematic elements

Times guidelines: Too intense for children

Martin Landau...Josef Krauzenberg

Judy Parfitt...Rachel Krauzenberg

Kenny Doughty...Hans Vassman

Caroline Carver...Ingrid Vassman

Danny Webb...Heinrich Himmler

An RS Entertainment release of a Film and Music Entertainment presentation. Producer-director John Daly. Executive producers Ilya Golubovich, Arkadiy Golubovich. Screenplay Daly, Kendrew Lascelles. Cinematographer Sergei Kozlov. Editor Matthew Booth. Costumes Jagna Janicka. Production designer Andrzej Halinski. Art director Art director Joanna Doroskiewicz, Set decorator Wieslawa Chojkowska. Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes. Exclusively at the Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 274-6869.

The Aryan Couple - Variety

Producer-turned-director John Daly's twist on the "Schindler's List"-type Holocaust genre, "The Aryan Couple" allows Jews to claim the heroic role in their own drama -- even the titular duo turn out to be Jewish resistance fighters in disguise. But pic's dubious brand of heroism, half-baked historical sense, simplistic dialogue, flat staging and barely formed characters make for sluggish sledding. Indeed, when action devolves into slo-mo toward pic's climax, it adds insult to injury. After initial runs in New York and Los Angeles, "Aryan" is skedded for wide 2005 release but it is unlikely pic will pull in many large namesake auds. Story concerns the negotiations between the Third Reich -- repped by no lesser personages than Heinrich Himmler (Danny Webb) and Adolf Eichmann (Steven Mackintosh) -- and a rich Jewish industrialist, Joseph Krauzenberg (Martin Landau, in yet another underdeveloped one-note role that fails to trump his unforgettable "Ed Wood" turn).

According to the terms of his deal with the Nazis (based vaguely on the real-life "Europa plan"), Krauzenberg will exchange all his worldly possessions for safe passage to Palestine for himself and his extended family. While Krauzenberg wearily compromises, his dignified wife, Rachel (Judy Parfitt), shoots off icy, sarcastic zingers.

Meanwhile, Krauzenberg's devoted non-Jewish servants (insistently referred to either by their hissingly German name, Vassman, or as "Aryans") are busy deciding whether to poison the visiting Nazi VIPs. When not plotting assassination, Danny (Kenny Doughty) and Ingrid (Caroline Carver) blandly bicycle across the verdant countryside, making friends with lonely checkpoint soldiers and reporting on the fate of Hungary's Jews -- which provides the excuse for a protracted cattle car deportation scene. Unfortunately, the scene lacks a vivid sense of violence and its abandoned child's toy symbolism comes off as hokey.

Pic's characters are unreadable and awkwardly distanced. The actors appear to have been handed personality traits on a strictly need-to-advance-the-plot basis that allows no color or intimacy, while Igor Khoroshev's unrelenting score lays on the schmaltz. Only Webb's prissily self-congratulatory Himmler resonates with vigor.

Pic was shot in Poland with the Zamoyski Palace and Museum at Kozlowka standing in for the Krauzenberg's opulent art-filled Hungarian mansion. While lenser Sergei Kozlov seems comfortable with the castle's glittering surfaces and grandiose proportions, the actors move gingerly through the rooms that they never manage to inhabit.

Used well, this strange sense of a space frozen in time might have given the pic a unique way to portray the unthinkable, particularly after film's ghostly opening sequence shot in present-day, deserted Auschwitz. Instead, however, helmer Daly opts to formally pose his characters in front of untouched, pristine historical backdrops with all the finesse of a high school pageant.

At times, script's disingenuous hindsight unintentionally posits a less than complimentary vision of Jewish valor. The Krauzenbergs' heroism consists solely of their ability to buy freedom, and that only for their own family. They seem unconcerned that the European factories, banks and steel mills they are surrendering are slated to go directly into the German war effort.

Despite an unfortunate penchant for heavy-handed "surprises" and utterly familiar set pieces, the thriller escape scenes near the end have an emotional quality lacking in the rest of the film: The non-Aryan Aryan couple hold hands and run through smokepot-created fog and night-shrouded train stations, while the Nazis, in pursuit, conveniently shoot each other.

The Aryan Couple BHFF Awards

Landau and The Aryan Couple clean up at the BHFF Awards

The Beverly Hills Hotel plays host to a glamourous and intimate awards ceremony

By Justin Williams

The Beverly Hills Hotel, a stately landmark of Hollywood's most glamorous era, played host to the annual awards ceremony of the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival. After an evening cocktail hour and a gourmet meal, the self-proclaimed "mini-Oscars" showcased some of the best and brightest from the world of independent film.

Attendees left the hotel with an ample dose of first-class film legend Martin Landau. The Aryan Couple, in which Landau starred, was the most decorated film of the 2005 festival, taking home four awards (Best Male Performance, Best Producer, Jury Award Best Feature and the Golden Palm Award).

Landau, who accepted the awards on behalf of the film, shined in this story of a German/Jewish industrialist in occupied Hungary who is forced to hand over his business to the Nazis in order to ensure his family's safety. The Aryan Couple was directed by veteran producer John Daly. Having produced such mainstream hits as The Terminator, Hoosiers, Platoon and The Last Emperor, this was Daly's first effort as a director."I've worked with a lot of directors," Landau told the audience in his third and final acceptance speech. "I've worked with Hitchcock. I've worked with Mankiewicz. I've worked with George Stevens and Tim Burton. I tell you John's as good as any of them."

Landau with Nino Simone and Gretchen Becker

The other celebrity highlight for fans of decent television came with an acceptance speech from Janine Turner (of Northern Exposure fame, for those of you who missed the "decent" TV reference). Turner wrote and directed Trip in a Summer Dress, for which Kathleen Early won the Best Female Performance award. She graciously accepted the award on behalf of the actress, who was unable to attend.

Area comic Mike Marino emceed the night's affairs to what seemed like mostly warm reviews. The New Jersey born Marino's brand of "fish out of water" comedy was enough to keep the crowd chuckling throughout. Although the night was not without its minor hiccups, Marino more than made up for the mishaps with his acerbic East coast wit, "hey, there ain't no commercial breaks here."

"Ive worked with a lot of directors... I tell you John's as good as any of them." - Martin Landau on John Daly

Other Award Winners:

Best Editor: Ken Mowe Pact

Golden Palm Screenplay Award: Malcolm Corterre How to Love a Man

Best Cinematography: Emre Sahin Canta

Best Foreign Film: Xin Li and Sarah Chin Master of Everything

Jury Award Best Short Film: Danielle Lurie In the Morning

Jury Award Best Documentary: Laura Kightlinger Sixty Spins Around the Sun

Best Screenplay: Alvaro Ron Behind the Curtain

Best Actor Male Performance: Nicholas Bianchi Pact

Audience Choice Award Best Short: Suny Behar Chaos Theory

Audience Choice Award Best Documentary: Nyle Cazavos Garcia Clean