THE SOUFFLEUR

78 MINUTES | COMEDY, DRAMA | 2025

Synopsis

After thirty years managing an iconic hotel in Vienna, Lucius learns the building has been sold to an Argentine developer intent on demolishing and reimagining it. With the help of his daughter and a handful of loyal employees, he clings to the life he’s built. What follows is a crusade of detours, espionage, and a paranoid struggle to preserve a vanishing world — and the only home he’s ever known.

Credits

DIRECTED BY: Gastón Solnicki (A LITTLE LOVE PACKAGE)

PRODUCERS: Gabriele Kranzelbinder (MUSEUM HOURS), Paolo Calamita (EPICENTRO), Eugenio Fernández Abril, Gastón Solnicki

CAST: Willem Dafoe, Lilly Lindner, Claus Philipp, Stephanie Argerich

PRESS QUOTES

“[A film with] an elegiac tone and a dash of wit … held together by Willem Dafoe‘s magnetic presence and natural but compelling performance.”

The Hollywood Reporter

"The film’s pathos is not restricted by the hotel walls, but a curious sense of wonder leads the viewer to places they probably don’t know...  countering the puzzling newness of a closed location with a quirky sort of charm"

Cineuropa

"A subtle underlying irony contrasts well with a tangible, desperate melancholy.... The world shown to us in The Souffleur immediately takes on spectral connotations. A world that is decadent, yes, but still incredibly powerful and fascinating, a precious reality of great historical importance for Vienna."

Cinema Austriaco

“A terrific little fable about the importance of preserving legacies and maintaining the history of long-standing institutions.”

International Cinephile Society