Probably Unanswerable Questions
Does Landa recognize Shoshana at the strudel lunch? Is he already plotting against the Nazi high command when he lets her go? How did Shoshana come to own the cinema? Why does she stay in France instead of leaving Europe?
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:09Read transcript
- The most persistent question: when Landa has strudel with Shoshana and forgets the last thing he was going to say, are we meant to feel he recognizes her or senses he has met her before; the milk order is read as the tell, and the 'au revoir' at the farm as a sign he does not care whether he catches her because he always has her in his talons.
- Does he fail to catch her because he is already orchestrating his own scheme to kill the Nazi high command at the premiere, ten steps ahead; it is hard to apply historical precedent to an alternate history, but he does raise not wanting to face a Jewish tribunal, many Nazis fled to South America, and a Jordan Peele show about that is coming to Amazon; the 'one more thing' moment may just keep her in an eternal state of fear.
- How did Shoshana come to own the cinema within four years while assuming the identity of Emmanuel; she may be telling the truth about an aunt and uncle who left it to her, and reportedly Maggie Chung (as transcribed) was cast as the aunt and shot flashback sequences that were cut, as were Cloris Leachman's scenes, with Isabelle Hubert (as transcribed) the first choice for Madame Mimou (as transcribed) before scheduling conflicts.
- Documentation of who owned what was harder then; if the theater really came from her family, why would she think it safe to stay somewhere connected to her, when the safest thing would be to leave Europe; the answer offered is that, like Landa plotting against the Germans, she is plotting too, not hiding but changing the marquee letters and living daily life under a different identity.