Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland

Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland
Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland
	Promotional poster
Directed by	Daniel Schmid
Written by	Martin Suter
Produced by	Marcel Hoehn
Starring	Yelena Panova; Geraldine Chaplin; Martin Benrath; Ulrich Noethen; Ivan Desny;
Cinematography	Renato Berta
Edited by	Daniela Roderer
Music by	Carl Hänggi
Release date	7 August 1999 (Switzerland); 3 August 2000 (Germany);
Running time	108 minutes
Countries	Switzerland; Germany; Austria;
Languages	German; (Swiss German);

Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland (German: Beresina oder Die letzten Tage der Schweiz) is a 1999 satiric comedy film by Swiss director Daniel Schmid. It chronicles the story of Irina, a Russian call girl arriving in Switzerland, whose innocent attempt to live the high life there triggers an unintended coup d'état in the country. The title Beresina refers to the Beresinalied, a patriotic song used as the code for initiating the putsch.^[1]

The film is a black comedy where all aspects of Swiss life are satirized in anecdotes. The heroine deals with a retired P-26 officer who appears as her false "sponsor" and various sexual perverts at the top of Swiss social hierarchy. Their attitudes to immigrants are also depicted ironically. Even the national identity and modern history of Switzerland are caricaturized in the country's first ever coup d'état sequences. The film culminates with Irina's coronation as Queen of Switzerland.

Beresina was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

Cast[]

Yelena Panova as Irina
Geraldine Chaplin as Charlotte De
Martin Benrath as Alt-Divisionär Sturzenegger
Ulrich Noethen as Dr. Alfred Waldvogel
Iván Darvas as director Vetterli
Marina Confalone as Benedetta Hösli
Stefan Kurt as Claude Bürki
Hans-Peter Korff as Nationalrat Tschanz
as Alt Bundesrat von Gunten
Ulrich Beck as Emil Hofer
Ivan Desny as Rudolf Stauffacher
Peter Simonischek as Fritz Ochsenbein
Hilde Ziegler as Frau Vetterli

Reception[]

The film was praised by Variety, where Schmid "applies his wicked sense of humour", to create a "rollicking socio-political farce that roasts just about everyone in power." The review also explained how Schmid uses "black humour to expose Swiss high society as a hypocritical facade hiding secrets from money-laundering to pimping, with the banks involved in absolutely everything."^[3]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b [1]
^ "Festival de Cannes: Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
^ Young, Deborah. Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland. Variety. 7 June 1999. p. 29

External links[]

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[nytimes-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b [1]

[festival-cannes.com-2] "Festival de Cannes: Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 9 October 2009.

[3] Young, Deborah. Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland. Variety. 7 June 1999. p. 29

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