Austerlitz (2015)
“You buy a book. You don’t really know why. It lies around, and then one day you open it, almost absentmindedly. And there you are, facing your own innermost secrets.” So begins Stan Neumann’s cinematic adaptation of W.G. Sebald’s award-winning novel, Austerlitz. The vaulted and majestic space of the railway station in Antwerp is where our journey really starts with actor Denis Lavant (Holy Motors) addressing the camera directly, and musing on the curious nature of railway stations. This bravura opening is startling, charming, and like the unnamed narrator of the book, you surrender to the proceedings and perambulate alongside Lavant, as he journeys through the great buildings of Europe, faded and shuttered hotels and grand colonnades with broken windows.
Director: Stan Neumann
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Denis Lavant as Jacques Austerlitz |
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Roxane Duran as Marie de Verneuil |
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Viera Pavlíková as Vera (as Vera Pavlíková) |
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Dominique Pifarély as Le musicien |
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Veronika Výprachtická as La vendeuse |
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Karol Laburda as Le gardien |
| Writing | Stan Neumann | Writer |
| Writing | W. G. Sebald | Novel |
| Editing | Louise Decelle | Editor |
| Costume & Make-Up | Elisabeth Mehu | Costume Design |
| Production | Richard Copans | Producer |
| Sound | Dominique Pifarély | Original Music Composer |
| Camera | Ned Burgess | Director of Photography |
| Production | Anne Cohen-Solal | Production Manager |
| Directing | Stan Neumann | Director |
