This is a fairly low-key film, but one rich in intriguing period detail, set in Germany in 1943. At its centre is a young woman who has left Berlin for a rural village, where she waits for her husband, a soldier, to return to his elderly parents. While there, she becomes caught up in a covert operation: she is forced, along with a group of other women, to taste the food prepared for Hitler in order to ensure it hasn’t been poisoned.

It’s not entirely clear how much of this is rooted in historical fact, though a 95-year-old woman did come forward in 2012 claiming to have been one of around fifteen such tasters. The premise offers a compelling insight into how people behave under pressure and trauma. These women are not volunteers; they are coerced, often at gunpoint, into eating potentially deadly meals. Yet despite the strength of the concept, there is a sense that it may not quite sustain the full length of the film.

We never see Hitler himself, and on several occasions we learn he isn’t even in residence, meaning the women are temporarily relieved of their duties. Instead, the narrative shifts toward subplots among the group: one woman begins an affair with an officer, another conceals a Jewish past, and another undergoes an abortion with the support of the other women. These elements build a portrait of life under constant threat, though they sometimes feel only loosely connected to the central premise.

What remains unclear is the precise mechanics of the tasting process. The women eat, wait an hour or two, and if they survive, the food is deemed safe – but the film never fully explores how such a system would realistically function, especially given the assumption that the chef is loyal to Hitler. Nor do we really gain an insight into how or when any poisoning might occur. And, of course, historical hindsight tells us that Hitler was not killed in this way, which inevitably removes some of the potential narrative tension – unless, as the film tentatively suggests, we are witnessing an attempt that ultimately failed.