Directed by:
Heinrich BreloerScreenplay:
Heinrich BreloerCinematography:
Gernot RollCast:
Burghart Klaußner, Tom Schilling, Mala Emde, Franz Hartwig, Friederike Becht, Lou Strenger, Leonie Benesch, Anatole Taubman, Thimo Meitner, Adele Neuhauser (more)Plots(1)
After award-winning docu-dramas such as Die Manns - Ein Jahrhundertroman, Heinrich Breloer turns his attentions to the biography of the writer Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956). In a mixture of fiction and documentary, his film sketches a self-confident man who was nonetheless beset by doubts, full of a lust for life and vulnerability. Brecht’s art reflects his inner conflict and is closely linked to the political upheavals of the time. Following Brecht’s life from the beginning of World War I to his death, Breloer concentrates on Brecht’s relationships with his women and his colleagues at the Berliner Ensemble. Time and again, individual portraits are distilled from the extensive material, including that of Brecht’s wife Helene Weigel, who played the legendary role of ‘Mother Courage’; his protégé Martin Pohl, who was arrested by the Stasi; and Brecht’s collaborator and lover, Ruth Berlau. Excerpts from interviews with Brecht’s first love Paula Banholzer, directors Egon Monk and Manfred Wekwerth, actor Regine Lutz and many others contribute to this portrait of the icon of political theatre as a combative, loving and conflicted contemporary. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Burghart Klaußner
Germany
Best movies:
The Reader (2008)
The White Ribbon (2009)
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Tom Schilling
East Germany
Best movies:
Generation War (2013) (series)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Never Look Away (2018)
Franz Hartwig
East Germany
Best movies:
A Most Wanted Man (2014)
Men in the City 2 (2011)
Die Toten vom Bodensee (2014) (series)
Friederike Becht
West Germany
Best movies:
The Reader (2008)
The Same Sky (2017) (series)
Labyrinth of Lies (2014)
Lou Strenger
Germany
Best movies:
Tatort (1970) (series)
Leonie Benesch
Germany
Best movies:
The White Ribbon (2009)
Persian Lessons (2020)
The Teachers' Lounge (2023)
Anatole Taubman
Switzerland
Best movies:
Taken (2008)
Frau Ella (2013)
Foyle's War (2002) (series)
Thimo Meitner
West Germany
Best movies:
Wunderschön (2022)
Adele Neuhauser
Greece
Best movies:
Die Kirschenkönigin (2004) (series)
Clara Immerwahr (2014) (TV movie)
Where Is Fred!? (2006)
Laura de Boer
Netherlands
Best movies:
Ku'damm 59 (2018) (series)
Happy End (2009)
A Dangerous Fortune (2016) (TV movie)
Trine Dyrholm
Denmark
Best movies:
The Celebration (1998)
Who Am I - No System Is Safe (2014)
Troubled Water (2008)
Ernst Stötzner
West Germany
Best movies:
Underground (1995)
Frantz (2016)
Victoria (2015)
Vojtěch Havelka
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Muži v offsidu (2010) (theatrical recording)
Zločin v Posázavském Pacifiku (2013) (theatrical recording)
Living Targets (2019) (series)
Gitta Schweighöfer
Best movies:
The Lives of Others (2006)
Vom Atmen unter Wasser (2008) (TV movie)
Rübezahls Schatz (2017) (TV movie)
Jan Šantroch
Best movies:
In the Shadow (2012)
It's Gonna Get Worse (2007)
Kuličky (2008)
Jakub Krejča
Best movies:
Old-Timers (2019)
A Pilot Tale (2018) (TV movie)
Bohéma (2017) (series)
Iva Šindelková
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Anthropoid (2016)
Borg vs. McEnroe (2017)
Andreas Buntscheck
West Germany
Best movies:
Ludwig II (2012)
The Murder Farm (2009)