Berlinale: “What Marielle knows” – flirting under observation

In his “little history of mankind”, the Israeli universal historian and author Yuval Hariri represents the thesis, the superiority of Homo sapiens towards other human species as well as the emergence of larger communities of hunters and collectors are based on a not inconsiderable part on the ability to go to colors, i.e. for spread rumors and social gossip. This communicative competence has led to cognitive revolution and the development of complex structures, to what we call culture or society. The gossip is, so to speak, the basis for regulated social behavior.

Basic prerequisites for well -kept gossip are of course the secret, this “but that has to stay among us”, as well as the small and larger lies. As is known, every person lies several times a day, be it out of fear, courtesy or selfishness. In the past, researchers assumed that a person would lie about 200 times a day. This is considered outdated today and probably only applies to Donald Trump. And yet the little falsehoods, exaggerations and flattery, which we tell ourselves, are not to talk about the social putty of every community.

Now imagine that your pubescent daughter could always hear and see what you are doing all day – even in the absence! The plot of “What Marielle knows” is actually already extensively described. By slapping her best friend, whom Marielle (Laeni Geiseler) had previously called ‘bitch’, something slips into Marielle’s brain, and she suddenly has such telepathic skills. It’s just stupid that the mother flirts violently with a colleague on just this day and that the father has to take a defeat at work, but converts them into the heroic on the native dinner. So that should be the role models that need to be emulated?

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It is a stroke of luck that this really refreshing German comedy made it into the Berlinale competition. It is their origin itself. In an interview with the »Süddeutsche Zeitung«, the two Munich producers told that despite narrowly estimated budgets, they would only have received cancellations in all funding institutions. Apparently the basic idea appeared to the film officials.

In the end, the film cost less than an average “crime scene”. With which it would once again be proven that it is less due to money than the lack of courage for the film conveyor if there is so much mediocrity. This mind game is quite obvious: what if all of our actions and action and our speeches were transparent for important caregivers? When all the secrecies of everyday life are open?

In any case, Marielle learns more about her parents and the world of adults than her love, and she increasingly sinks into melancholy. The parents (Felix Kramer and Julia Jentsch) are also also unsettled and only conduct ritualized, formulaic conversations so that they do not go on a fat – because the daughter hears and sees whether she wants or not. The loss of privacy threatens the sensitive balance of your marriage, which, like most partnerships, is based on an arrangement that includes the little lies.

It is as amusing as it is exciting, as director Frédéric Hambalek, who also wrote the book, succeeds in breathing life into the absurd idea of ​​his debut film and lending credibility. Of course, the credibility does not refer to the daughter’s telepathic skills, but to the reactions in the family social environment. In order to exist as role models in front of her daughter, the parents decide to radical honesty in front of each other and to their colleagues. It can be thought of what complications this leads to.

This sustainability makes the film, which will be released in April in April, so sympathetically. After all, in each of us, in view of the idea that your child could always see and hear what you do and says that the external smell has been activated. That is why you are happy to attend this cinematic experiment. After all, the thoughts remain free.

“What Marielle knows”, Germany 2025. Book and Director: Frédéric Hambalek. With: Julia Jentsch, Felix Kramer, Laeni Geiseler, Moritz Treuenfels. 86 min.
February 23, 3:30 p.m., Berlinale Palast