Jerry Schatzberg’s REUNION Written by Harold Pinter
Jerry Schatzberg · 1989 · U.K./West Germany/France · 110 min
Get tickets at Film Forum“What kind of Jew are you?” “A German Jew! The kind who goes to synagogue on Yom Kippur and sings ‘Silent Night’ on Christmas!” Jason Robards stars as a New York Jewish lawyer who returns to his hometown of Stuttgart after 55 years to find traces of his parents (including a doctor father who was proud of having fought for the Fatherland during WWI) and closest school friend, scion of one of Germany’s most notable families. Told mostly in flashback, REUNION centers on the two 16-year-old boys (Christien Anholt as the young Robards and Samuel West as his aristocratic friend) and their unlikely friendship, even as national socialism begins to insinuate itself into everyday life. Designed by the legendary Alexandre Trauner (whose credits include everything from Carné’s CHILDREN OF PARADISE to Wilder’s THE APARTMENT), who himself fled the anti-Semitic regime of his native Hungary, REUNION had a brief U.S. release in 1991 (“It opened on Friday and closed on Monday,” says Schatzberg) and then virtually disappeared for the next 35 years. Though its few original American reviews were positive, REUNION has had little critical traction in this country. It did much better, both critically and at the box office, in France, where it was nominated for the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or (Schatzberg had won one in 1973 for SCARECROW). A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE