Born in Wiesbaden in 1939, Volker Schlöndorff studied in France and worked as assistant to Louis Malle, Alain Resnais and Jean-Pierre Melville before returning to Germany. A key figure of New German Cinema, he specialised in adapting literary works, often with political edge: Young Törless (1966) from Musil, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975) with Margarethe von Trotta from Böll, and The Tin Drum (1979) from Günter Grass, which shared the Palme d'Or and won the Oscar for best foreign language film.
Filmography
- Young Törless (1966)
- The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975)
- Coup de Grâce (1976)
- The Tin Drum (1979)
- Circle of Deceit (1981)
- Swann in Love (1984)
- Death of a Salesman (1985)
- The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
- Homo Faber (1991)
- The Ogre (1996)
- Diplomacy (2014)