Denial (2016 film)

Denial
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mick Jackson
Produced by	Gary Foster Russ Krasnoff
Screenplay by	David Hare
Based on	History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah Lipstadt
Starring	Rachel Weisz Tom Wilkinson Timothy Spall Andrew Scott Jack Lowden Caren Pistorius Alex Jennings
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography	Haris Zambarloukos
Edited by	Justine Wright
Production company	Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment Shoebox Films Participant Media BBC Films
Distributed by	Bleecker Street Entertainment One
Release dates	September 11, 2016 (2016-09-11) (TIFF) September 30, 2016 (2016-09-30) (United States) January 27, 2017 (2017-01-27) (United Kingdom)
Running time	110 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million[2]
Box office	$4.1 million[1]

Denial is a 2016 British-American historical drama film directed by Mick Jackson and written by David Hare, based on Deborah E. Lipstadt's book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier about the Irving v Penguin Books Ltd case when the Holocaust scholar was sued by notorious Holocaust denier, David Irving, for libel. It stars Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius and Alex Jennings.

The film had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016.^[3] and was released in the United States on September 30, 2016 by Bleecker Street.^[4] The film is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2017, by Entertainment One.

Plot

Deborah E. Lipstadt is an American professor in Holocaust Studies, who attracts the ire of David Irving, a scholar of Nazi Germany, who accosts her by disrupting her speaking engagements and filing a libel lawsuit when she declared him a Holocaust denier in her books. Furthermore, the suit is filed in the United Kingdom where its legal system where the burden of proof is on the accused. Therefore, it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team, led by Anthony Julius as head solicitor and Richard Rampton as head barrister, to prove that Irving specifically knew he was lying in claiming the Holocaust did not occur.

In preparing their defence, Lipstadt and Rampton tour the Auschwitz death camp in Poland with a local scholar for the necessary information on the site while the research team subpoenas Irving's voluminous personal diaries during the discovery phase of the trial. While Lipstadt is annoyed by Rampton's apparently disrespectful questions on this subject, she is equally bothered by being instructed to confine her contribution to the case to fundraising for the trial, for which the British Jewish community pleads with her, to her disgust, to settle the case out of court to avoid giving this old anti-semite renewed publicity. However, her legal team has a promising beginning in their efforts such as exploiting Irving's overweening intellectual ego to make him agree to a Judge-only trial instead of a jury trial where he could have had the opportunity to manipulate it for his own advantage.

The trial begins with Irving conducting his own legal representation to solicit sympathy at facing Lipstadt's well financed legal team. During the trial, the legal team struggle to deal with Irving's manipulative double-talk which endeavors to twist any presented evidence by the defence into supporting his own case. Meanwhile, Lipstadt is approached by Holocaust survivors pleading for a chance to testify to stand up to Irving's lies, but Lipstadt's legal team is adamant that neither they, nor Lipstadt herself, will take the stand in order to keep the trial's focus on Irving himself. When the trial takes a seemingly disastrous turn when Irving tries to discredit evidence on the now demolished gas chambers of Auschwitz claiming that were no holes on the roof for the Zyklon B gas crystals to be introduced; thereby creating a cheap soundbite, "No Holes, No Holocaust," that dominates the news coverage. Furious at Irving getting away with such blatant distortions in the media, Lipstadt demands that she and the Holocaust survivors take the stand. Julius angrily counters that would be seriously counterproductive, showing how Irving has been able to subject Holocaust survivors to grueling and insulting cross-examinations determined to further his cause.

Defeated, Lipstadt has Rampton come to call to explain his methods and his real feelings about the case, which earns Lipstadt's trust. Her renewed patience in her legal team's strategy pays off with Rampton subjecting Irving to insightful cross-examination on the stand with the scholar's claims being exposed as absurd while subsequent expert testimony exposes blatant factual distortions in Irving's writings.

As the trial concludes, the Judge disquiets the defense with a seemingly absurd question suggesting he thinks that if Irving honestly believes his claims through his anti-semitism, he might not be lying at all. However, after an agonizing weeks-long wait for the Judge's ruling, the Judge ultimately rules in favour of the defence, saying that he is convinced by the evidence that Lipstadt's criticism of Irving as a deceitful holocaust denier is accurate. In the resulting media reaction, Lipstadt is hailed for her dignified demeanor as a respectable scholar allowing her expert legal counsel to defeat Irving, while her legal team privately reminds her that despite her frustrated inaction during the trial, it was her original writings countering Irving's lies that provided the necessary catalyst for this victory.

After the trial, as Lipstadt and Julius watch a television interview in which Irving brazenly rationalizes his legal loss as a victory, Lipstadt is undeterred as she dismisses Irving as a self-delusional "verdict denier."

Cast

Production

In April 2015, Hilary Swank and Tom Wilkinson were attached to star in the film, based upon the book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah Lipstadt, with Mick Jackson directing, while Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff would produce under their Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment banner with Shoebox Films. Participant Media and BBC Films would co-finance.^[5] In November 2015, Rachel Weisz, replacing Swank, and Timothy Spall joined the cast of Denial, with Bleecker Street distributing the film.^[6] In December 2015, Andrew Scott, Caren Pistorius, Jack Lowden, Alex Jennings, and Harriet Walter all joined the cast.^[7] Howard Shore composed the film's score.^[8]

Filming

Principal photography began in December 2015 and concluded the end of January 2016.^[9][10]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016.^[11] The film was released in the United States in a limited release on September 30, 2016.^[12] The film is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2017.^[13]

Critical reception

Denial received positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81%, based on 94 reviews, with rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "If Denial doesn't quite do its incredible story complete justice, it comes close enough to offer a satisfying, impactful drama – and another powerful performance from Rachel Weisz."^[14] On Metacritic the film has a score of 64 out of 100 score, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[15]

References

External links

• Official website
• Denial at the Internet Movie Database