Adults in the Room (Ενήλικοι στην αίθουσα)

Feature Film, France, Greece 2019
Original Language: English, Greek, French, German – Subtitles: English
124 min.
TRAILER

"Each of the persons I encountered and write about in these pages believed they were acting appropriately, but, taken together, their acts produced misfortune on a continental scale. Is this not the stuff of authentic tragedy?" (Yanis Varoufakis, Adults in the Room)


Wolfgang Schäuble has been part of German politics like no other for 40 years: as architect of unity, guardian of the "black zero" and "disciplinarian" of the Greek financial crisis. As such, in 2015 he meets Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister at the time, who became a political pop star around the world shortly after taking office. We remember: at that time, Greece was on the verge of bankruptcy. Athens is demanding further financial aid - and is making what it sees as far-reaching commitments. But these are not enough for German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. In the end, a showdown between the two takes place in Brussels.

The great Costa-Gavras deals with this incident in his film ADULTS IN THE ROOM. He draws on Varoufakis' book Adults In The Room: My Battle With Europe's Deep Establishment, which in 2017 revealed what went on behind the closed doors of the EU.

ADULTS IN THE ROOM consists almost entirely of secret meetings, background conversations and debates, all of which took place in 2015 when Varoufakis (played by Greek superstar Christos Loulis) was appointed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsiparis (Alexandros Bourdoumis) to save Greece from financial ruin, and joins the chorus of tragedy in European crisis politics. The audio recordings of the meetings, secretly recorded by Varoufakis, flowed unfiltered into the screenplay; a partisanship that was judged by the German side as not particularly pleasing.

Even though the bulk of the film consists of talking heads - most of whom are graying, balding, or both - Adults in the Room is a perfect example of the Sisyphean labor that lay behind months of negotiations and how democratic hopes ultimately fail because of structural power.

The exterior shots of ADULTS IN THE ROOM were characteristically shot in Frankfurt am Main, outside the gates of the ECB. Oh, and you're probably still wondering who's playing the role of Wolfgang Schäuble: none other than Ulrich Tukur.

Directed by Costa-Gavras Screenplay: Costa-Gavras based on the book of the same name by Yanis Varoufakis:, Cinematography: Yorgos Arvanitis, Editing: Costa-Gavras, Lambis Haralampidis, Sound: Nikos Papadimitriou, Marianne Roussy-Moreau, Costas Varibobiotis, Edouard Morin, Daniel Sobrino, Costumes: Agis Panayotou, Music: Alexandre Desplat Production: Michèle Ray Gavras, Alexandre Gavras, Production Company: KG Productions, France 2 Cinéma, Wild Bunch (Brahim Chioua), Odeon (Manos Krezias), with: Christos Loulis, Alexandros Bourdoumis, Ulrich Tukur, Daan Schuurmans, Josiane Pinson, Aurélien Recoing, Vincent Nemeth, Valeria Golino and many others.