Charlotte Salomon’s Letter (United States) by Dana Plays
Verona International Film Festival
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1h 0m
Charlotte Salomon’s Letter is a non-fiction film about the German Jewish Artist Charlotte Salomon who created her magnum opus 'Life? or Theater?' as a catharsis experience to prevent herself from suicide after finding out she was the sole survivor in her maternal family line of suicides while living in exile and under duress in the Côte d'Azur, France during WWII. Censored for more than 60 years was Salomon's 35-page painted letter confessing to fatally poisoning her grandfather with an omelet laced with opium and veronal, in 1943, during the German occupation in the Côte d'Azur and her appreciation of her benefactor and protector, the filmmaker's great aunt, heiress Ottilie Moore, on the estate where she was sheltered and created a large part of Life or Theater, and to whom 'Life? or Theater?' is dedicated. The film interweaves the visual paintings and written narratives by Salomon from her Life? or Theater series, with her censored letter read on screen by the late Austrian actor Birgit Doll (1956-2015) in German and filmmaker Dana Plays echoing from Life? or Theater? and expository narration in English, with personal archive of photographs, paintings and movies. Salomon was arrested and murdered at Auschwitz five months pregnant by her husband refugee Alexander, Ottilie Moore’s former lover also sheltered by Moore.
Running time: 00:60:16
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