The Round Up
Short description
Set in Paris during the German occupation, The Round Up follows several Jewish families whose lives are upended by the mass arrests of July 1942. Among them is eleven-year-old Joseph, who has been wearing a yellow star and navigating a city where goodwill and contempt exist side by side. When French police carry out a large-scale operation, the families are taken from their homes and held in the Vélodrome d'Hiver, the winter cycling stadium, before being sent on to transit camps. A Jewish doctor and a Protestant nurse do what they can to ease the suffering of those detained.
The film is written and directed by Roselyne Bosch, her second feature after Animal (2005) and preceding My Summer in Provence (2014). Jean Reno plays Dr. David Sheinbaum, with Mélanie Laurent as Annette Monod, Gad Elmaleh and Raphaëlle Agogué as Schmuel and Sura Weismann, Sylvie Testud as Bella Zygler, and Hugo Leverdez as Jo Weismann. The production credits 102 cast members and 145 crew.
Made for a budget of about 20 million USD, the film took roughly 25 million USD at the worldwide box office. It holds a 7.5 rating on TMDB from over a thousand votes, while on IMDb the critics' score stands at 6 out of 10 across 35 reviews, lower than the audience response.
What's left behind the scenes
- Producer Alain Goldman wanted to make a film similar to "Schindler's List" (Steven Spielberg, 1993). He believed that French cinema had not yet paid enough attention to the topic of the Holocaust in France during World War II.
- Director Roslyn Bosch auditioned around 200 children for the role of Joe Weisman and about 100 for the other children's roles.
- Footage showing Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in a white leather coat in front of a birthday cake on the veranda at Berghof (his residence from 1928-1945 in the Bavarian Alps) was filmed by Hitler’s then-companion and later wife, Eva Braun (1912-1945), on his birthday. Also present were Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945), Braun herself, Hitler’s German Shepherd named Blondi (1941-1945), and two of Goebbels’ elder sons. The film had to undergo extensive restoration. At one point, Hitler begins to scold Braun for smoking. In another moment, the camera focuses on someone from the German General Staff, who is clearly displeased.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
