Thursday 13 August 2015

Did Col. Landa actually recognize Shosanna?

I seem to be in the minority here, but I actually think Col. Landa did not recognize Shosanna. He did not get a good look at her in the beginning of the film. And if he suspected she would try to get revenge, he would have to think it would be primarily directed at him. Why allow somebody to potentially interfere with his plans to defect? He wouldn't know she planned to burn down the theater only after he left. I think the various pieces of evidence in the restaurant (cream, milk, forgotten question) are just for suspense.



With that said, I'd love to hear a definitive answer from Tarantino.



EDIT: Another answer of "presumably not" is given in the IMDb FAQ:




Did Col. Landa know that Shosanna was the girl he let escape when he meets her at the cafe?



Presumably not. He never saw her face while she was running away from
him, so there is no way he could have known that she was the girl,
although we don't know how detailed were the files Landa had on the
Dreyfus family. It is possible he had a very good description of her
or even a photo. Being a very skilled detective and interrogator, he
acts as polite and respectful as possible and never shows all his
cards until he is certain about the outcome. The beginning of the film
showed Landa having a friendly conversation with Monsieur LaPadite
whom he suspected of hiding the Dreyfus family, but asked for certain
details about them to see how Mr. LaPadite responded, pretending to
not really be sure about the details of the Dreyfus family was hint
enough for Landa to know he was lying and confirm that LaPadite was
hiding the Dreyfuses. Keep in mind that Landa also knew who Aldo,
Donny and Omar were simply by interrogating the swastika marked
soldiers. So he could very easily have known or suspected that Madame
Mimieux was in fact Shosanna Dreyfus, simply by height, hair colour,
eye colour and descriptions he had gathered from interrogations of
other Dairy Farmers in the area. Perhaps the reason he ordered the
milk and the cream was that he suspected she was Jewish, but as she
kept her calm and even tried the strudel, cream and all, he either
dismissed his theory or chose to ignore it. It's also possible, going
with the assumption that Landa did indeed know who she was, that Landa
was just testing her nerves. The more he prolonged the stress of him
sitting there with her, the more uncomfortable she'd likely become.
Not to mention she probably didn't have much of an appetite with him
sitting there. While she kept her calm, it was also obvious she was
still nervous. Perhaps when he said he had something else to ask
her...then he paused...gave her an intense stare was just to gauge her
reaction. As a cat toys with a mouse. Either for his own amusement or
to see if she would try running at which point he could apprehend her.


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