Movies: The Tasters (2025) by Silvio Soldini: Biting into Fear: A Tense Table of Life and Death

Dining with Death

The Tasters (Le assaggiatrici / Die Vorkosterinnen) is a gripping historical drama directed by Silvio Soldini and co-written with Doriana Leondeff, based on Rosella Postorino’s celebrated 2018 novel. Inspired by the true story of Margot Wölk, Hitler’s only known surviving food taster, the film follows Rosa Sauer (Elisa Schlott), a Berlin woman who escapes bombing raids in 1943 only to be conscripted into a terrifying duty — tasting Adolf Hitler’s meals to ensure they are not poisoned. Alongside other women, Rosa must eat three meals a day under SS supervision, each one carrying the possibility of sudden death. Over its 123-minute runtime, Soldini blends suspense, moral drama, and intimate character study. The film premiered in Italy on March 27, 2025, grossed over $3.8 million worldwide, and has earned 1 win and 2 nominations at international festivals, including recognition for its production design and lead performance.

Why to Recommend Movie: Courage Served on a Plate

• A Chilling, Unique Slice of WWII History — Few films explore Hitler’s tasters, making this story both historically fascinating and emotionally fresh. Each meal is fraught with dread, turning the act of eating into a harrowing ritual that keeps audiences on edge. It reframes the war not through battlefields but through the intimate, constant risk faced by women.

• Outstanding Performances with Emotional Depth — Elisa Schlott’s portrayal of Rosa is layered with fear, resilience, and conflicting loyalties. Max Riemelt as SS officer Albert Ziegler adds complexity by humanizing a character who could easily have been one-note. The ensemble of women — Alma Hasun, Emma Falck, Olga von Luckwald — bring variety and tension to the dining table, allowing alliances, betrayals, and moments of shared humanity to unfold naturally.

• Suspenseful, Visually Arresting Filmmaking — Cinematographer Renato Berta crafts a muted, almost painterly palette that heightens claustrophobia. Close-ups of trembling hands, spoons hovering midair, and glances exchanged across the table make every bite a question of life or death. This immersive style puts the audience right at the table.

• Moral Complexity and Psychological Intensity — Beyond survival, the film explores the price of complicity and the complexity of forbidden intimacy — Rosa’s relationship with Ziegler forces viewers to question the boundaries of love, coercion, and agency in wartime. It refuses easy answers, encouraging reflection long after the credits roll.

• Award-Worthy Craft and Literary Prestige — Adapted from a prizewinning novel and helmed by a master of Italian cinema, the film carries significant cultural weight. Its festival attention and award recognition further validate it as one of 2025’s must-see historical dramas.

Each reason layers more urgency onto why this film is worth watching: it is not just historical fiction, but a tense meditation on fear, survival, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Where to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/de/Film/le-assaggiatrici (Germany)

Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27811248/

Link Review: https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/475493/

About movie: https://cineuropa.org/en/film/474873/

What is the Trend Followed: Women at War, Beyond the Frontline

The Tasters fits into the ongoing trend of retelling WWII through women’s perspectives, shifting away from soldiers and generals to show the psychological battlegrounds faced by civilians.

• It explores hidden histories, emphasizing the overlooked contributions and traumas of women during wartime.

• It follows the recent cinematic interest in moral ambiguity, where protagonists are not purely heroes or victims but complex individuals forced into impossible choices.

• The film also participates in a trend of intimate, ritualistic war dramas, focusing on routine and repetition rather than large-scale combat spectacle.

Director’s Vision: Turning Meals into Minefields

• Silvio Soldini transforms the simple act of eating into scenes of near-unbearable suspense. Each tasting is filmed like a ceremony, with slow pacing that mirrors the tasters’ dread as they wait to see if death will strike.

• He emphasizes realism, filming in authentic period locations and using restrained direction to keep the focus on the women’s faces, gestures, and internal states rather than on melodramatic set-pieces.

• His decision to include Rosa’s intimate, conflicted romance with Ziegler adds nuance, showing how survival sometimes blurs moral lines and how love can become a form of rebellion — or compromise.

Themes: Fear, Complicity, and the Fight for Agency

• Female Solidarity and Rivalry — The tasters form fragile bonds in a situation designed to pit them against each other. The film explores how solidarity and suspicion coexist when survival is at stake.

• Bodily Autonomy Under Siege — The women’s bodies are weaponized as testing instruments, raising questions about ownership, consent, and the limits of personal freedom under authoritarian control.

• Love and Moral Ambiguity — Rosa’s romance with an SS officer challenges notions of guilt and innocence, love and betrayal, suggesting that even in war, the heart refuses to obey ideology.

• Death as Routine — By repeating the tasting scenes, the film shows how terror becomes normalized, turning fear into a rhythm that governs daily existence.

Key Success Factors: The Perfect Recipe for Tension

• Engaging Ensemble Dynamics — Each woman has a distinct personality and backstory, ensuring that their collective scenes are as dramatic as they are suspenseful. Their small victories, arguments, and moments of laughter make them feel fully alive.

• Meticulous Production Design — From authentic food preparation to SS uniforms and rural East Prussian settings, every detail immerses viewers in the era and underscores the stakes.

• Balanced Tone Between Horror and Humanity — The film maintains tension without resorting to sensationalism. It allows moments of tenderness and humor to pierce the darkness, making the fear even more palpable.

• International Appeal — By telling a specific yet universally resonant story, the film appeals to global audiences interested in human resilience and the untold chapters of history.

Awards & Nominations: A Celebrated Table

The Tasters has achieved 1 win and 2 nominations across major European festivals, praised particularly for its cinematography, period authenticity, and lead performance by Elisa Schlott. Its presence in international festival lineups cements it as one of 2025’s most significant historical dramas.

Critics Reception: A Dish Best Served Tense

• Cineuropa called it “a beautifully restrained war film that finds terror in ritual and silence,” praising its attention to period detail and its refusal to sensationalize.

• The Guardian highlighted how the film “restores forgotten women to the historical record” and described Schlott’s performance as “mesmerizing and heartbreaking.”

• Variety described the film as “slow-burning but ultimately devastating,” noting how the love story adds moral weight to an already tense narrative.

Overall, critics agree the film is a triumph of atmosphere and moral tension, with a pacing that rewards patient, attentive viewers.

Reviews: Tasting Terror, Feeling Humanity

• Strengths: Riveting suspense built around ordinary routines, strong lead and ensemble performances, visually striking cinematography, and an intelligent script that refuses to oversimplify.

• Weaknesses: Its deliberate pacing and quiet tone may challenge viewers expecting traditional wartime action, and the romance subplot may feel divisive.

Overall: The Tasters is an elegant, haunting portrait of survival and complicity, offering both emotional engagement and intellectual challenge.

Movie Trend: Intimate War Cinema

The Tasters exemplifies the current wave of WWII dramas focusing on small-scale, human-centered stories. It trades epic battles for domestic suspense, asking audiences to consider how ordinary lives are warped by authoritarian control.

Social Trend: Women’s Stories at the Center

The film aligns with today’s push to tell stories of women in history whose experiences were long neglected. It explores themes of bodily autonomy, systemic coercion, and resilience, connecting WWII history to ongoing conversations about agency and survival under oppressive systems.

Final Verdict: A Must-See for Lovers of Historical Drama

The Tasters is a meticulously crafted, emotionally charged work that transforms shared meals into moments of existential terror. It is a rare film that manages to be tense, beautiful, and morally provocative at once. For those seeking a thoughtful, female-centered take on WWII, this is one of 2025’s most essential films.