Corinna Harfouch in the star female role as mother Lissy: cold, without knowledge of her own needs
Photo: © Jakub Bejnarowicz/Port au Prince
The title of the film (“Die”) is bold and may discourage you from going to the cinema. Why is that still the right title for the film?
That’s obvious. It is almost a truism that living and dying are one and the same. For some reason, our culture is strangely prudish when it comes to talking about death. I think we should just be curious about a title like this and not be put off by it. It’s somehow unnatural, avoiding death. We all die at some point.
Interview
Corinna Harfouch, born in Suhl in 1954, is probably as well-known as the Federal Chancellor; after all, she has appeared in over 100 film and television productions and dozens of plays and has received awards almost as often. She is nominated for the German Film Prize for her role as the mother in Matthias Glasner’s drama “Die”. The film about a dysfunctional family enters the race with nine Lola nominations.
Matthias Glasner describes the film as an approach to himself, as the script is based on his life story. Did you also play Lissy for Matthias Glasner?
Yes. I have a bit of hope that because I played his mother, Matthias might understand his late mother better. That was also part of my motivation for playing her.
You sit at the coffee table with your film son Tom (Lars Eidinger) for 24 minutes, where you initially have little to say to each other, then you confront him ruthlessly with the truth. How did you develop this intense scene?
The text was fixed and we accepted it word for word. It is probably a kind of memory record of a conversation that Matthias had with his mother. The most important thing about the scene is that you learn the lines very carefully. The game then develops as you spin. Playing with each other results from partners, space and bodies. Lars and I met while filming, then we simply shot the scene without rehearsal and Matthias decided to do the first scene entirely. We had a special atmosphere on set anyway. We didn’t have a break from filming, we filmed until we were tired and in the evenings we talked a lot about life. That was a very intense time.
How did this time shape your perspective on life and death?
It hasn’t changed my perspective on life. If anything, you can see my or Matthias’ life experiences in the scenes. It’s not like you’re sitting in a classroom and thinking to yourself: “I’ve learned the following for my life.” I’ve never had a feeling like that before.
At first glance, Lissy chooses solitude. She acts like she doesn’t need anyone. She’s actually fighting for her son Tom’s attention. Is Lissy too proud to admit how lonely she is?
Yes. She doesn’t dare and she doesn’t think she’s worth enough. There is no one, really no one, who wants no one to take care of them. Lissy is just incredibly clumsy. The scene in which Lissy calls her son is shown from two perspectives. Tom isn’t concentrating at all, looking for an excuse to hang up. Lissy wants to tell him what she experienced. Actually, she’s screaming for help. She can’t say directly: “Please come here now!” She just thinks to herself: “He’s probably working a lot. “He certainly doesn’t have time” and has respect for that. She doesn’t want to be intrusive. That’s what a lot of old people think.
Lissy is married to Gerd (Hans Uwe-Bauer). When her husband falls ill with dementia, Lissy can no longer care for him and he is taken to a nursing home. A depressing picture is shown in the film. It’s not a nursing home, it’s a home for the dying. Is that really a solution?
No. It’s a great shame how things are currently going. The nursing staff has to deal more and more with people who are in deep need of care, but the home is not growing properly. The fact that they were once and still are personalities has no bearing on the matter. The fact that someone is no longer even allowed to decide when they are hungry and when they are not, how much they want to eat and whether they really want this liver sausage every day or not is not a good development. The film shows this quite well. Tom Lunies (their son) loved his father very much, then the father comes to the home and Tom is confronted with that too. The father was a person of respect for Tom for many years, but now he is no longer allowed to make decisions. But he can’t just take his father with him, many people can’t do that. Deporting people, our people, who have toiled all their lives because of us, to these institutions is such a terrible concept. But what is the solution? Caregivers report that people are going home later and later these days. Things used to be different. Now they come when they almost can’t do it anymore. Then you are really locked up.
Have we as a society forgotten how to deal with one another?
In any case. I live in a village, so it’s a bit different. The neighbors would also notice if you let your mother go to waste there. But I also think that city life has become very intense and stressful and destroys bonds. It’s more anonymous. But it goes without saying that no matter what your father may have done to you in the past, you take care of your family. I wouldn’t say that we were a dream family, really not.
What will the audience experience in the three hours of the film?
The film will appeal or repel viewers very differently with its different narrative strands. Of course, what you always want is for them to make their own film out of it and connect it to their lives. There are enough stories told in the film that people can relate to with their life experiences.
“Die”, Germany 2024. Director and screenplay: Matthias Glasner. With: Lars Eidinger, Corinna Harfouch, Lilith Stangenberg. 183 mins, start: 25.4.
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