A true and unknown story! If we all know the tragic fate of Anne Frank thanks to her diary, few are those who know the story of the one who tried to save her. A glimmer of hopeavailable this Tuesday on Disney+, retraces the journey of Miep Gies (Bel Powley, seen in The Morning Show), a carefree and strong-willed young secretary who didn’t hesitate for a moment when her boss, Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber, seen in Ray Donovan), asked him to hide his family during World War II in Amsterdam.
For two years, Miep, her husband, Jan (Joe Cole, seen in Peaky Blinders), as brave as he is dedicated, and other ordinary heroes, watched over the Frank, van Pels and Pfeffer families, refugees in a secret annex of Otto’s company, Opekta.
A well-known story told from a new angle
“I’ve always been interested in the story of Anne Frank, but also that of Miep Gies. I had seen in the 1990s the documentary Anne Frank remembered based on Miep’s autobiography. I wanted to dig deeper into the Franks, the van Pels, the Pfeffers that we really only know through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl. How do you see these people in a new light? “, explains the co-creator and screenwriter of the miniseries, Tony Phelan, that 20 minutes met at CannesSeries.
“I didn’t know anything about Miep and Jan, not even their names, but I knew The Diary of Anne Frank. I was immediately interested in the idea of playing Miep. As a Jew, I have a special connection with this part of history. When reading the script, I was very taken with the look that Tony Phelan and Joan Rater had on this period and their resolutely modern and accessible tone,” says Bel Powley.
A coming of age story
“People think they know the story of Anne Frank, that she was a victim of Nazism and had a diary, but don’t really pay attention to human history. Being interested in Miep made it possible to talk about the life of a young woman at the time through an unknown character, ”says the executive producer of the miniseries, Susanna Fogel.
The story ofA glimmer of hope begins well before the war, when Miep Gies, in her twenties, was Otto Frank’s secretary. “The idea was to tell the story of this young woman’s coming of age, alongside Anne Frank’s very famous coming of age. I also wanted to understand why Miep had agreed to hide them. What made her say “yes” when so many others said “no”? What made her special? “adds Tony Phelan.
A moving story of friendship
“Otto and Miep had a really special and very modern relationship. It was not common at the time for a young woman to really be friends with a man who was twenty years older than her, ”said Bel Powley. “They entered into this relationship as employer and employee, but shared a lot in common. They were both immigrants and spoke German. The Franks and their friends used Miep and Jan, her husband, to understand the customs and the way of life in the Netherlands. When Miep and Jan agreed to hide them, they became members of their family”, summarizes Tony Phelan.
After their arrest, Miep found Anne Frank’s diary and kept it for publication, in agreement with Otto, the girl’s father, to serve as a will for future generations. “After the war, Otto moved in with Jan and Miep,” explains the actress. “The miniseries traces how Otto became a kind of surrogate father for Miep. The fact that Miep kept Anne’s diary was an extraordinary gift for him. He will say later that reading this diary was like watching Anne grow up, ”adds the screenwriter.
A love story between the wars
“There is a sense of responsibility, not only for Miep, but also for the Franks, for Amsterdam and the resistance. In terms of building the character, it’s the same process as for a fictional character, but it takes respect in your research and for the story, “said Bel Powley, who has read Miep’s autobiography several times. and traveled to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam to prepare for the role.
The actress was able to count on the expertise of the creators of the series, Tony Phelan and Joan Rater: “They conducted research for five years. Any questions we had, we could ask these traveling historians! “Same story on the side of Joe Cole, who camps the husband of Miep, Jan:” Tony told us extraordinary anecdotes every day, acts of heroism. We could talk for hours between takes. »
“Miep is awesome, incredibly confident and outspoken. It was discovered in 1933 well before the start of the war. She is a girl who has fun, likes to go out with her friends and dance. She also loves fashion and her husband. She’s an ordinary young woman,” says Bel Powley. “She was playful and funny and had a fascinating, complex and passionate relationship. All of this coexists with the great political story that we tell, ”abounds Susanna Fogel.
A story of ordinary heroes
“At first, Jan is kind of an introvert, a bit nerd, a real bookworm. He and Miep will grow together through the great difficulties and enormous challenges they face. This ordinary guy will flourish and become a kind of superhero, ”analyzes Joe Cole.
Miep and Jan will thus accept without hesitation to protect the Franks and their friends hidden in the annex while the Nazis have invaded the Netherlands. “I guess it comes from his origins. Miep was born in Vienna (Austria), her childhood was marked by famine after the First World War and she was sent to Amsterdam. The family who welcomed her at the age of 9 already had five children and worked on the principle: “When there are seven, there is always one more”, analyzes Bel Powley.
“She will never regret her decision, but what she agreed to do turned out to be more complicated than she thought when she signed up. Sometimes she was really tired and didn’t feel like fetching a third chicken for the annex,” adds Susanna Fogel.
The title A glimmer of hope comes from a quote from Miep Gies who said “that a secretary or a teenager can be a beacon of hope in the darkness. She didn’t like people calling her a hero and said, “I’m like everyone else. I just made these small decisions and everyone is capable of doing that”. »
An important story to draw inspiration from
“I hope this show makes people wonder what they would have done in their shoes, because this is really about an ordinary couple who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances and chose to do what was needed. We can all learn from this,” says Bel Powley.
This theme is still “relevant today, we can decide to act or disengage and distract ourselves with our smartphones or whatever. However, I think the world needs our help,” says Susanna Fogel.
“We live in a time when people feel threatened by this story. Anne Frank’s diary is banned in some places in the United States. Questions of nationalism and anti-Semitism do not arise. They are very present, simply there”, laments Tony Phelan, who hopes “to make this story known to a whole new generation” thanks to Disney +. And Susanna Fogel to conclude: “We need more stories like this, to be honest. »