Work without an author

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Movie
Original title Work without an author
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2018
length 188 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
script Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
production Quirin Berg ,
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck,
Jan Mojto ,
Max Wiedemann
music Max Richter
camera Caleb Deschanel
cut Patricia Rommel
occupation

Werk ohne Autor is a German feature film by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck from 2018 . The theme is the life of an artist, based on the biography of Gerhard Richter . The main roles are played by Tom Schilling , Sebastian Koch , Paula Beer , Saskia Rosendahl , Oliver Masucci and Ina Weisse . The world premiere took place as part of the competition at the 75th Venice International Film Festival . The film started in German cinemas on October 3, 2018. It was submitted as a German entry for the 2019 Academy Awards and was finally nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the categories of Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography.

action

Five-year-old Kurt Barnert and his eccentric, art-loving aunt Elisabeth visited the traveling exhibition Degenerate Art in Dresden in 1937 . Soon afterwards, the child has to watch as this aunt is forcibly taken to a psychiatric institution for alleged schizophrenia . Later she was shown to the head of the Dresden women's clinic, SS-Obersturmbannführer Carl Seeband. After she pleaded with him to refrain from the planned forced sterilization and put up strong resistance on the way to the operating room, he changed his approach and ordered her murder. While her nephew experienced the air raids on Dresden from afar, her aunt was gassed in Pirna-Sonnenstein .

After the war, Seeband was arrested by the NKVD, detained in the special camp and brutally interrogated by the camp commandant Muravyov because of his role in the euthanasia murders . When the camp commandant's wife had problems giving birth, Seeband offered his service as an obstetrician despite the tough interrogations, and he succeeded in saving the officer's wife and child. Muravyov then placed Seeband under his personal protection and treated him respectfully and kindly from then on.

Kurt Barnert initially found a job in a sign and banner painting factory. When his talent was recognized there, he was sent to the Dresden Art Academy as a representative of the workforce , where he studied painting. His professor, a communist by conviction, tries to lead the students towards socialist realism . Kurt shows great talent, but cannot make friends with ideology. He has the feeling that through this type of painting he is increasingly distancing himself from his own style and doing an alienated work.

Kurt meets the young Elisabeth, who is studying fashion and textile design at the academy . She reminds him of his aunt, even the first name is the same. To distinguish them, he asks her for a nickname and is allowed to call her Ellie from then on. They fall in love and Kurt moves into their parents' house as a tenant. There he meets Elisabeth's father for the first time. It is Professor Carl Seeband who escaped prosecution after the war and has meanwhile fully committed himself to the socialist ideology of the GDR . Little does Kurt know, however, that Seeband is the one responsible for his aunt's death. Nor does Seeband know that Kurt's nephew is one of his victims. However, the professor sees the young man as genetically inferior and does everything in his power to destroy Kurt's relationship with Ellie. However, he does not succeed and the two marry.

After studying in Dresden, Kurt was commissioned to create a large wall fresco in the socialist style. He only accepts it to make money. His in-laws decide to leave the GDR, as the KGB officer Muravyov, who had previously protected Seeband from criminal prosecution, is about to be transferred to Moscow . A little later, Kurt and Ellie decide to flee to the West via West Berlin . A few months later the wall is built.

Kurt and Ellie move from Berlin to Düsseldorf after learning that a whole new art direction is developing there. Although he is already 30 years old, he gives his application as “26” and is accepted by the mysterious Professor Antonius van Verten at the art academy. Here he comes into contact with the modern art of the West German post-war period, in which painting has largely become obsolete, but otherwise everything seems possible. Everything is so very different from what he learned in the GDR. Ellie finds a job as a seamstress in a clothing factory. Attempts by the couple to become parents fail and Ellie is diagnosed with having no children, which is believed to be due to the abortion that Seeband was able to perform on his own daughter under false pretenses, in order to kill what he believed to be inferior To create offspring from the world.

After his initial enthusiasm and artistic productivity, Barnert fell into a crisis, triggered by a judgment by his professor van Verten that his art was only formally interesting, but not an expression of his own inwardness. In desperation, he burns all of his work. His father-in-law gets him an auxiliary job in the hospital. When Kurt reads a newspaper report that the highest-ranking euthanasia expert has been arrested, he begins to paint the black and white photo of this Nazi criminal photorealistically. After the photo of the appraiser, who - without Kurt knowing it - had been Seeband's superior, he turned to other photos: the passport photos of his father-in-law, a picture of his aunt holding him in her arms as a small child, and various collages. When Prof. Seeband, during a visit to Kurt's studio, sees a painting that shows a collage of his head with that of the arrested senior appraiser and the face of Kurt's murdered aunt, he loses his composure and flees. He cannot understand how the son-in-law of all people, whom he considers weak and unintelligent, was able to uncover his greatest secret. In doing so, Kurt probably did not understand - at least consciously - which connection he had uncovered. Kurt realizes, however, that from now on he always has to be guided by his intuition, by his instinct, because that way he can recognize things that are not accessible to the intellect. In his pictures, an inner knowledge is expressed that is consciously not available to him.

After the couple had given up hope of having a child, Ellie became pregnant after all. With his art, which also enables him to come to terms with the traumas of his childhood and youth, Kurt Barnert finally found himself. At his first exhibition in the Kunsthalle Wuppertal his paintings aroused a certain recognition, but the press completely misunderstood and misinterpreted his pictures. Because of his protective claims, according to which the pictures have nothing to do with his life, but merely mechanically reproduce photos or are to be understood as an homage to other artists, he is credited with artistic power, but his paintings are described as work without an author , so little What has to do with him is that one can hardly speak of authorship in the traditional sense. Kurt doesn't care, because he has learned to trust the power of honest art. He knows that the journalists and the audience will instinctively, unconsciously understand his work, just as he himself unconsciously and instinctively understood the things that he has processed in his works. Thus, on another level, he actually creates a work without an author.

It remains open whether Seeband will be held accountable for his crimes against his daughter during the Nazi era and afterwards.

production

Emergence

The director Henckel von Donnersmarck was inspired by real events when writing the script for the work without an author . The main character of Kurt Barnert is based on the life story of the German artist Gerhard Richter . His aunt Marianne Schönfelder was murdered by Nazi doctors in 1945 as part of the second phase of National Socialist euthanasia, Aktion Brandt . Heinrich Eufinger , the father of Richter's first wife Marianne ("Ema"), was one of the perpetrators as SS-Obersturmbannführer and responsible for the forced sterilizations in Dresden. Victims and perpetrators have been portrayed several times by Richter, apparently without being aware of the background. The picture Aunt Marianne heard all the works of the judge, to the highly traded paintings of the 20th century. Other characters appear in the film who are reminiscent of Richter's companions such as Sigmar Polke , Günther Uecker (Barnert's studio neighbor Günter Preusser) or Joseph Beuys (Barnert's Prof. Antonius van Verten). The book “ A painter from Germany. Gerhard Richter. The Drama of a Family ” by Jürgen Schreiber .

The film was produced by Pergamon Film and Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion . The producers are Jan Mojto , Quirin Berg , Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck , Max Wiedemann and Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck. ARD Degeto and Bayerischer Rundfunk acted as co-producers . Hire accepts Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany.

The production of the film was supported by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg , the Filmförderungsanstalt , the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern , the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW , the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung , the German Filmförderfonds and the Czech State Cinematography Fund.

occupation

Filming

Filming in July 2016 in Dresden

The shooting took place from June to the end of August 2016 in Berlin, Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Poland. Due to two illnesses, there were delays during the shooting and as a result complaints about working too long. However, Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion immediately sought an open, constructive dialogue with the ver.di FilmUnion and actively endeavored to shorten working hours.

marketing

A first teaser trailer was published in early February 2017. The official trailer followed in September 2018.

reception

Reviews

Overall, the reviews of the film were mixed.

Ulf Poschardt , editor-in-chief of the world , was enthusiastic and called the work without an author “an educated bourgeois masterpiece”.

The performance of the actors involved was largely recognized, for example by Dietmar Dath in the FAZ . According to Dath, the production is otherwise "really fine"; he praised the "production design, the light geometry, the business". Dath was very critical of certain directorial decisions; For example, it is “not a mere commandment of shame or decency” that a “camera and a soundtrack in a gas chamber” have no business. There are “luxurious cinematic moments”, the films want a lot, but only “sometimes it works”.

Andreas Lueg from titel thesen temperamente wrote that work without an author is a thrilling narrative cinema: “In the end, the artistic instinct reveals the terrible truth about the past. Art as a means of purification. That is idealistic, but definitely seductive. "

Antje Harries from the kinokino format followed suit and called work without an author a terrific film. She stated: “At three hours an epic film, but it never bores for a minute. A panorama of German history captured in art. "

The German wave designated work without the author as a special "historical cinema".

In addition to good reviews from the press, the film was particularly well received by the premiere audience in Venice. During the world premiere, “the cinema exploded with applause”, according to the Bild newspaper , and the film received “13 minutes of standing ovations from 1000 guests of honor”. The film was also very well received by the private audience of the Venice International Film Festival and topped the audience hit list.

The Berliner Zeitung summed up; "A daring, a great achievement, worthy of a Gerhard Richter."

On the other hand, the parallel montage of pictures of falling German soldiers, the bombing of Dresden by the Allies and the murder of Kurt Barnert's aunt in the gas chamber was controversial, as von Donnersmarck dares to stage an explicit production “like no other German film before”, according to Bayerischer Rundfunk .

In the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Tobias Kniebe approved of the director's claim "that the film may show anything he wants if it ultimately creates truth and even beauty". He wrote: “One can have that hope. It is as old as art itself. ”The aesthetic means employed - the staged re-enactment of death in the gas chamber, the burning Dresden, etc. - considered by Kniebe to be extremely questionable. He came to the conclusion: “But the real and unbelievable mystery - how someone can turn a three-hour, not at all stupid film about the existential struggle of an artist for his means of expression without putting his own aesthetic decisions to the test - that remains unsolved. "

Martin Schwickert also drew a negative conclusion in the Rheinische Post : "But although it wants to tell of the artistic self-healing powers of the soul, the self-satisfied cinematic work of art shows a certain soullessness and threatens to always suffocate on its own, perfectionist calculation."

On the other hand, Alexander Kissler saw in the Cicero in the film "a parable about [...] that who has to tell himself who has something to tell" and accused Gerhard Richter of having only made his judgment on the basis of the trailer.

In his film review published in the art magazine Monopol , Daniel Kothenschulte primarily dealt with the representation of elements from Richter's biography and the artists at the Düsseldorf Academy. Kothenschultes assessment was: "[...] the deviations, especially in the portrayal of the art scene of the 1960s, often seem to be due less to the creative imagination than to simple ignorance." In summary, he came to the conclusion: "Art has often been misunderstood in the cinema , but rarely so thoroughly. ”And with regard to the style of the film, he suspected that Henckel von Donnersmarck was“ the historical only a pretext to indulge in the spongy, old-fashioned ”.

The author of Spiegel Online , Hannah Pilarczyk, criticized: Henckel von Donnersmarck's "Film has no basis and no conviction, it only has one fixed point: size [...] in the case of his subject, the painter Gerhard Richter, size certified by prices on the art market ( most expensive contemporary painter in the world). ”With Richter's art, the film could“ hardly do anything ”. The author then focused her gaze primarily on the portrayal of the main female character: “Again and again the camera greedily scans her naked body and pauses like a gripping hand on her chest. When Richter's film alter ego [...] comes home after his Eureka moment in the studio, he has not even finished his short sentences about his artistic breakthrough when he is already working on Beer's clipping with the camera . ”So was her summary:“ A work without an author? Breast without a woman. "

Ingo Langner critically sums up the negative German reviews in CATO magazine and his overall positive conclusion is: “From his beloved aunt Elisabeth, Kurt Barnert learned the iron rule never to look away from his beloved aunt Elisabeth. What he takes to heart in order to mature into an artist with sight. In its imagery, work without an author is committed to what is true, good and beautiful. If the “values” of the “open society” are meant by the lack of “foundation” and “conviction”, then the Spiegel author (Hannah Pilarczyk) is undoubtedly right. Here we see people who do not cling to the global multicultural and transgender fantasies, but to the Ten Commandments - compared to those who, with the party badge on their lapels, be it the brown or red rulers, serve the powers of darkness. "

In the United States, the film received special attention and received outstanding reviews. Kyle Smith of the National Review called work without an author a "new cinematic masterpiece" and summarized: "It may be the best German film I've ever seen."

Harvey Karten, founder of the New York Film Critics online , also spoke of a masterpiece of a film: “This film is so riveting, so absorbing […], that I dare you to look away even once. That's how brilliant this modern masterpiece is. "

Cinema Without Borders wrote: “With his third feature film, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck […] explores a subject matter that is both unusual and compellingly ambitious, spanning three decades of German post-war history in a suspense-packed drama. [...] A gripping drama and moving family story [...]. "

Stephen Saito was also enthusiastic about the viewing experience: “[…] 'Never Look Away' is the grand immersive experience people have sought from the movies since the medium's earliest days with a story that deepens with the filmmaker's assiduous attention to historical context and the sense of discovery within Kurt's evolution as an artist [...] "

Ed Meza of the Variety described work without an author as "a high-tension drama".

The Boston Herald summarized: "Nothing more should be said except: See it!"

In addition to von Donnersmarck as “master of pacing”, Justin Chang of the LA Times also highlighted the extraordinary achievements of Caleb Deschanel and Max Richter : “The movie certainly makes its own case for beauty, evident in the crisp, gleaming frames of Caleb Deschanel's cinematography and the lush strains of Max Richter's orchestral score. "

The German film and media rating awarded the film the rating particularly valuable . The reasoning states that the film delivers “large and dramatic images from the very first minute” and is a “rousing artist epic and tense drama” with a “clever story”, “reflective dialogues” and “soulful music”.

Gerhard Richter's reaction

Gerhard Richter , on whose life the film was based, had initially not seen the film, according to dpa . But Richter found the trailer that the director showed him "too sensational". Richter told a reporter for New Yorker magazine that the director had "abused and grossly distorted" his life story. His “aversion to the film as well as to the person” grew even further through the forced re-employment with both.

Gross profit

On the first weekend, the film was seen in a total of 309 cinemas by around 40,000 viewers and grossed around 400,000 euros. If you add the 20,000 viewers on the start day, which was a Wednesday and therefore does not count towards the official start weekend, the film took eighth place on the first days in October 2018.

Awards and nominations

With work without an author , Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck competed for the first time at the Venice International Film Festival for the Golden Lion , the main prize of the festival. However, the award was given to the film Roma by Alfonso Cuarón . Work without an author convinced the young audience and was awarded the Leoncino d'Oro Agiscuola and the Arca Cinema Giovani Award at the festival.

In the United States, the film was nominated by the North Texas Film Critics Association for the NTFCA Award and at the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards for the DFWFCA Award. The Motion Picture Sound Editors also nominated work without an author for their Golden Reel Award.

In Germany, Sebastian Koch received the Bambi in the national best actor category for his role as Professor Seeband .

In 2018, Werk ohne Autor was also nominated as “ Best Non-English Language Film ” for the Golden Globe , and in 2019 it was nominated for an Oscar in the categories “Best Foreign Language Film” and “Best Cinematography” .

literature

  • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: work without an author. Movie book. Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-518-46915-6 . (Original script with film photos)
  • Jürgen Schreiber: A painter from Germany: Gerhard Richter: The drama of a family. Pendo, Munich / Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-86612-058-3 .

Web links

Commons : work without an author  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for work without an author . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ German film "Werk ohne Autor" nominated for a Golden Lion . From: dw.com , July 25, 2018, accessed August 16, 2018.
  3. ↑ Work without an author filmstarts.de, accessed on October 5, 2018
  4. ↑ "Work without an author": Henckel von Donnersmarck goes into the Oscar race for Germany . In: Spiegel Online . August 30, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed August 30, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Academy Awards 2019: “Work without an Author” nominated for an Oscar . In: The time . January 22, 2019, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed January 22, 2019]).
  6. ↑ Work without an author . In: Moviepilot , accessed February 18, 2017
  7. ↑ Gerhard Richter, 2012, Aunt Marianne (Tante Marianne) (accessed October 8, 2018).
  8. ↑ Figure Gerhard Richter. Catalog raisonné, no.87
  9. ↑ Oscar winner shoots in art academy . In: Rheinische Post , accessed on August 25, 2018
  10. ↑ a b c d A story as big as life: Start of shooting for the new film by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck . At: Presseportal.de , June 21, 2016
  11. ↑ Work without an author. In: filmportal.de. Retrieved February 4, 2019 .
  12. ^ Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany (Ed.): Work without author - press book .
  13. ↑ Visit to the set of “Werk ohne Autor” (WOA) . In: filmunion.verdi.de from July 23, 2016
  14. ↑ Work without author teaser trailer . In: YouTube from February 2, 2017
  15. ↑ KinoCheck: WERK WITHOUT AUTHOR Trailer German German (2018). Retrieved February 4, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Ulf Poschardt: Cinema: Donnersmarck's "work without an author" as an educated bourgeois masterpiece . October 3, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed January 23, 2019]).
  17. ↑ a b c d Dietmar Dath: Von Donnersmarck's new film: First the suffering, then the triumph . September 5, 2018, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 23, 2019]).
  18. ^ Andreas Lueg: Von Donnersmarck's comeback: work without an author. In: Das Erste, title, theses, temperaments. Retrieved January 23, 2019 .
  19. ^ "Work without an author" - art and pain, provocation and controversy. In: BR Mediathek. Bayerischer Rundfunk, October 3, 2018, accessed on January 23, 2019 .
  20. ^ German historical epic : "Work without an author". In: Deutsche Welle. October 5, 2018, accessed on January 23, 2019 (German).
  21. ^ Norbert Körzdörfer: Film premiere “Work without an Author”: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is the Lion of Venice. In: bild.de. September 5, 2018, accessed January 23, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Venice Film Festival without clear favorites. In: suedost-news.de. September 7, 2018, accessed January 23, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Peter Claus: A strong year. In: The Rhine Palatinate. September 7, 2018, accessed January 23, 2019 .
  24. ^ Frank Olbert: Film "Werk ohne Autor": This is how Donnersmarck traces the story of Gerhard Richter. In: Berliner Zeitung. September 4, 2018, accessed January 23, 2019 .
  25. ↑ David Steinitz: Scene in the new Donnersmarck film triggers debate . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . September 6, 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on January 23, 2019]).
  26. ^ Anke Leweke: Film review: “Work without an author” - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck celebrates the reactionary. In: mdr.de. Retrieved January 23, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Moritz Holfelder: Why “work without an author” is not for mature viewers. In: Bayerischer Rundfunk. September 12, 2018, accessed January 23, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Tobias Kniebe in the Süddeutsche Zeitung : “Work without an Author” in the cinema - full of artistic doubts . October 2, 2018
  29. ↑ Martin Schwickert: From the life of the painter Gerhard Richter. In: Rheinische Post, October 1, 2018, p. B7. Online version , accessed October 1, 2018.
  30. ↑ Cicero editorial team: Is that art, or is the trailer enough? In: cicero.de, October 5, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018.
  31. ↑ Monopoly, October 2018, pp. 40–48.
  32. ↑ Hannah Pilarczyk at Spiegel Online : “Werk ohne Autor” with Tom Schilling - Who is the greatest here? . October 3, 2018, accessed October 9, 2018.
  33. ↑ Kyle Smith: Never Look Away, A New Cinematic Masterpiece. In: National Review. January 17, 2019, accessed January 23, 2019 (American English).
  34. ↑ Harvey Cards: Never Look Away Movie Review. In: Shockya.com. November 16, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2019 (American English).
  35. ↑ Golden Globe's Best Foreign Language nominees. In: Cinema Without Borders. December 6, 2018, accessed January 23, 2019 .
  36. ↑ Stephen Saito: Interview: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck on Approaching His Biggest Canvas Yet for “Never Look Away”. In: moveablefest.com. November 30, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2019 (American English).
  37. ↑ Ed Meza: Venice: 'Lives of Others' Helmer Returns to the Big Screen With 'Never Look Away'. In: Variety. September 1, 2018, accessed on January 23, 2019 .
  38. ^ Boston Herald, September 7, 2018
  39. ↑ Justin Chang: Art seeks its role amid chaos. Pretty cinematography doesn't shy from the ugly truths of a divided Germany. Ed .: LA Times. November 30, 2018.
  40. ↑ Film evaluation certificate work without author ( pdf ), accessed on October 8, 2018.
  41. ^ German press agency : Gerhard Richter criticizes "work without an author". Der Tagesspiegel , October 4, 2018, accessed on October 1, 2018 .
  42. ^ Diana Goodyear: Profiles - Blurres Lines . In: The New Yorker, January 21, 2019, pp. 32–41
  43. ↑ Andreas Kilb : I am not, even if I should be , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 29, 2019, p. 9.
  44. ↑ Blickpunkt Film: Kinocharts Deutschland: When “Venom” takes off ... from October 8, 2018, accessed on October 8, 2018.
  45. ↑ Only 40,000 visitors on the first weekend: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's “Werk ohne Autor” flopped meedia.de on October 8, 2018, accessed on October 8, 2018.
  46. ^ Film festival in Venice Coens, Cuarón and Donnersmarck in competition . In: Spiegel Online , July 25, 2018, accessed on July 27, 2018.
  47. ↑ Biennale Cinema 2018 | Collateral Awards of the 75th Venice Film Festival. September 8, 2018, accessed February 4, 2019 .
  48. ↑ Work without an author. In: IMDb. Retrieved February 4, 2019 .
  49. ↑ 66th Annual Golden Reel Awards Nominees. MPSE, accessed February 4, 2019 .
  50. ↑ AFP: Germany: Sebastian Koch awarded the Bambi as an actor nationally . In: The time . November 16, 2018, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed February 4, 2019]).
  51. ↑ Golden Globes: "Work without an Author" nominated. In: Sueddeutsche.de. December 6, 2018, accessed August 10, 2020 .
  52. ↑ Oscars 2019: "Work without an Author" nominated for an Oscar. In: Zeit Online. January 22, 2019, accessed January 22, 2019 .