If you dig "talking movies" and want to try something that's not in the American "Sorkin/Mamet" smooth-talk variety, Diplomacy is worth checking out.

| Apr 14, 2020

Though it tends to be a rather dusty historical drama, Diplomacy isn't without significant merits, a drama depicting the type of barely contained desperation behind what could have been a significant catastrophe.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 6, 2019

What might seem like excess staginess in a lesser director's hands becomes excitingly stripped-down here, especially with canny use of a moving camera on a small set, where lighting keeps flickering due to power outages.

| Feb 16, 2018

This is a game of chess played out by the knights, fearful of the king but strong in chivalric code.

| Sep 15, 2017

The suspense stems not from the foreseen conclusion, but from the thinking that leads up to it.

| Aug 21, 2017

The best way to look at his film is as a love story about Paris. One can differ about the interpretation of events presented in the movie. It is hard to disagree about the worthiness of his love.

| Aug 21, 2017

Gripping little drama shows the fate of Paris in the hands of two men

| Jun 21, 2015

Diplomacy induces pins and needles from the get-go and doesn't let up until the credits roll.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 8, 2015

Arestrup and Dussollier are mesmerizing as they attack and parry, argue and counterargue. They reminisce about their lives before the war and wax poetic about their families - then engage in battle again.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2014

The drama is made interesting and more substantial as hidden facts about the German's situation are revealed, and his soldier's perspective honored.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Dec 12, 2014

You know, after all, what the end result will be, but "Diplomacy" is strong enough to keep the situation intense and important.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 4, 2014

A little supporting personality could have made the proceedings feel less like a smartly staged character study and more like a wartime drama.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 4, 2014

Diplomacy will work for those who appreciate dialogue-based character films in which plot is of secondary importance.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 2, 2014

Although we know what happens, Diplomacy keeps up the suspense and pulls off surprises as Choltitz's decision reaches its inevitable ending.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 26, 2014

We know where this is going, or rather where it isn't; but the fun is in watching the negotiations unfold.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 24, 2014

Its minor thrills come not from not knowing what will happen, but from watching the cagey choreography of two acrobatic minds.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 20, 2014

Expanded from Cyril Gely's stage play, this film remains finely focussed on a history-changing dialogue between two men on the day Paris changed hands from the Nazis to the Allies.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 17, 2014

The result is intriguing and intelligent, but ultimately uninspired.

| Nov 16, 2014

It is a beautifully written and expertly acted two-hander that takes dramatic licence with real historical events to create an urgent, compelling high-stakes drama.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 14, 2014

Gert Frbe and Orson Welles played the same parts in Ren Clment's sprawling epic, Is Paris Burning? (1966). But this is superior in every regard.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 13, 2014