''Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland'' () is a 1999
satiric
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or ...
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
by Swiss director
Daniel Schmid
Daniel Walter Schmid (26 December 1941 – 5 August 2006) was a Swiss theatre and film director.
Biography
In 1982, his film ''Hécate'' was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival. His film ''Beresina, or the Last Days of Sw ...
. It chronicles the story of Irina, a Russian
call girl
A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who (unlike a street prostitution, street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by ...
arriving in Switzerland, whose innocent attempt to live the high life there triggers an unintended ''
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup
, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
'' in the country. The title ''Beresina'' refers to the ''
Beresinalied
The "Beresinalied" () is a popular Swiss folk song. Also known by its opening line, "Unser Leben gleicht der Reise", the German lyrics are based on the last four stanzas of a poem by Ludwig Giesecke, called "Die Nachtreise" (), published in 179 ...
'', a patriotic song used as the code for initiating the
putsch.
The film is a black comedy where all aspects of Swiss life are satirized in
anecdotes
An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait.
Anecdotes may be real ...
. The heroine deals with a retired
P-26 officer who appears as her false "sponsor" and various
sexual perverts at the top of Swiss social hierarchy. Their attitudes to immigrants are also depicted ironically. Even the
national identity
National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language".
National identity ...
and modern
history of Switzerland
Since 1848, the Swiss Confederation has been a federal republic of relatively autonomous Cantons of Switzerland, cantons, some of which have a history of federation that goes back more than 700 years, putting them among the world's oldest surviv ...
are caricaturized in the country's first ever ''coup d'état'' sequences. The film culminates with Irina's
coronation
A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...
as Queen of Switzerland.
''Beresina'' was screened in the
Un Certain Regard
(; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films with unusua ...
section at the
1999 Cannes Film Festival
The 52nd Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 1999. Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg served as jury president for the main competition. Kristin Scott Thomas was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Belgian filmmakers ...
.
It also was selected as the Swiss entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...
at the
72nd Academy Awards
The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored 1999 in film, films released in 1999 and took place on March 26, 2000, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30&nb ...
, but it was not nominated.
Cast
Reception
The film was praised by ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', where Schmid "applies his wicked sense of humour", to create a "rollicking socio-political farce that roasts just about everyone in power." The review also explained how Schmid uses "black humour to expose Swiss high society as a hypocritical facade hiding secrets from money-laundering to pimping, with the banks involved in absolutely everything." It was the highest-grossing Swiss film of the year, ranking 38th at the box office overall.
See also
*
*
References
External links
*
Austrian comedy films
Swiss comedy films
1999 films
German comedy films
1990s German-language films
1999 comedy films
Films directed by Daniel Schmid
Films set in Switzerland
1990s German films
Films with screenplays by Martin Suter
{{Switzerland-film-stub