Film: Film “No Word”: The beauty of loss of control

Your new film “Kein Wort,” in which you play the conductor Nina, is initially reminiscent of “Tár” with Cate Blanchett. What both conductors have in common is that artistic success is combined with very negative character traits. They have no sense of the needs of those around them, cannot listen and abuse their authority. Is this an occupational disease for artists in top positions?

The fact that you are very fixated on your own artistic work, is isolated in it and is incapable of perceiving others – this egomaniacalness when you see it negatively, or this absorption in your work when you see it positively – that leads to isolation . With Nina, it is very clear that she has no room for anyone else, even if it is her own child.

For directors or conductors, the determining factor is probably immanent.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the job of a conductor, and I think that’s something that affects you: leading a complete orchestra. That you are the one who says where to go. Just playing it… When you have so many people following you, this energy that is transferred, it’s extremely euphoric and also special for your own ego.

Are women successful differently – or is it always the same with power?

I worked with a male and female conductor to prepare for the role. Both were very different. The man was a little more authoritarian and very matter-of-fact. The woman was much more permeable and holistic, also in relation to the music. In this job in particular, it is particularly important to be able to connect the head and the emotional. I have the impression that women are good at this.

In the film the phone keeps ringing. Nina is constantly distracted by work, and you suffer with her son, who at some point gets so annoyed that he smashes her phone in an act of self-determination. Despite this, there is very little spoken at the beginning of the film. Where does this silence come from?

As a conductor, Nina is currently in an artistic phase where she really can’t concentrate on anything else. Expecting the child to understand this goes a long way into the adult world. Nina is not perfect as a person, she is skeptical instead of trusting her son. She doesn’t see certain things that are totally obvious from the outside because she’s constantly distracted.

Nina understands that the bond with her child is being lost and wants to change something. Only a few people can do that.

The story tells a lot about Mahler’s music. The Adagietto in the 5th Symphony, which she conducts in the film, is very difficult for Nina because she cannot access it. As events escalate with her son, she learns a certain humility. She realizes that she can’t control everything. And finally opens up to music with a new approach.

With the film, director Hanna Slak puts forward the thesis that as an artist you can only be a professional if you are able to enter into meaningful relationships with other people. Would you agree to that?

My experience with a family is that you change. It’s sometimes annoying not to have so much space anymore, but you learn to classify things differently and it’s not so much about yourself anymore. I’ve become more efficient. Or to put it more briefly: Everything needs its space, and any neglect in one area has a frustrating effect.

Has your expectations of other people’s work changed as a result?

I only do things that I really want to do. It now bothers me when working time is not used well. When time is wasted and concentration is lacking. I always think: Hello?! I have to pick up the children in two hours. Family releases new energy that I didn’t know before.

In a central scene, mother and son argue at the dinner table, and at the climax Nina says the sentence: “Tell me what I did wrong!” Is this the eternal mother trauma of being to blame for everything that happened to the child goes wrong?

This is where the fear of not being enough as a mother manifests itself. You constantly ask yourself: What do you have to be like to be a good mother? The best case scenario is that you come to the realization that you just keep trying, and then that will be good enough. In the scene, Nina has the courage to address this question about sufficiency to her son.

Are people who claim that children and careers don’t work equally well right?

I would never claim that both could be easily done. I’m often completely torn and my partner and I think every day about how we can divide up since we both work full time. Many around us still fall into this old pattern of one person working less than the other.

Compatibility has been a huge topic for years. How is it in art? Is it more likely to be laughed away – or do you take it seriously?

I have been a member of the ensemble at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin for over ten years, and a lot has happened in that time. Saturday was always a normal working day, and a while ago we decided together that the day would no longer be a rehearsal day and only the evening performances would be fixed dates. But in film production it is still an individual struggle. I always have to ask to make a weekly plan so that the childcare times can be agreed upon. So you have to keep asking for it, but then you encounter relatively little resistance.

My guess would have been that mothers have to fight hard for their rights every time.

No, younger colleagues without children are now paying more attention to a balance between their private and professional lives. But you have to speak up about it yourself, otherwise nothing will happen.

I’ve just come from a shoot in Senegal, and work is different there. There was a situation that I have experienced 100 times in Germany: a director yells at others because something is taking too long, and a colleague from the set starts to cry. In Germany it is normal that if you are attacked, you go on the attack; according to the motto “You’ll get it back”. If someone cries, everyone would just be annoyed. But in this situation, they approached the woman and comforted her. Paying attention to how someone was doing was more important than keeping to a schedule. And what was impressive was that the team solved this conflict together and was able to continue working with concentration after just a short time. A wonderful experience.

»Kein Wort«, Germany, France, Slovenia 2023. Director and screenplay: Hanna Slak.
With: Maren Eggert, Jona Levin Nicolai, Maryam Zaree. 87 minutes. Start: July 4th.