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In the tradition of “Drum” or “Maria Braun’s Wedding”, “Stella, a German Life” revisits Berlin during the Second World War.
France Télévisions – Editorial Culture
Published on 01/14/2024 12:45
Reading time: 2 min Paula Beer in “Stella, a German life”, by Kilian Riedhof (2024). (MAJESTIC/JURGEN OLCZYK)
The German director Kilian Riedhof retraces Stella Goldschlag’s activity in the service of the Gestapo from 1943 to 1945 in Berlin, Stella, a German life which comes out Wednesday 17 January. Self The drum Volker Schlöndorff or Maria Braun’s wedding by Reiner Werner Fassbinder are references on the topic, based on fictional characters, while Stella Goldschlag, also known as Stella Kübler (1922-1994), is a historical character, who leads the film towards the theme of denunciation, rarely brought to the screen .
A life next door
In 1943 in Berlin, an aspiring Jewish jazz singer, Stella worked in a factory and made ends meet by making false documents and doing a few rides. Until the day she is arrested and tortured by the Gestapo for having denounced the Jews around her. Threatened with being sent to Auschwitz together with her parents, she began to denounce the Jews around her, then entire groups hidden in Berlin. She was arrested by the Soviets, she was sentenced to ten years in prison in the USSR. She returned to Berlin in 1957, she was again sentenced to the same sentence, but after having already served it in the USSR, she was released. Rejected and alone, she committed suicide in 1997 at the age of 72.
Stella, a German life it’s a film about guilt. As she herself says, played by an extraordinary Paula Beer, “I’ve never had a normal life“Arrested, tortured, imprisoned, manipulated by the Gestapo, a secret informant then in broad daylight, nicknamed Greifer (the grappling hook), and imprisoned again, Stella Goldschlag sees her fate flat with “extenuating circumstances”, in the version Kilian Riedhof gives.
Judge and executioner
Paula Beer plays a very physical role that goes from glamor to prison and back again, playing a series of games that express all the emotions, from love to fear, from constraint to taking on her function. Kilian Riedhof adopts a classic staging that adapts to the subject, without ever ignoring the feelings.
Stella, a German life addresses a rare topic on screen, undoubtedly unprecedented, through the fate of Stella Goldschlag. By telling the story of a life that no longer belongs to him, a life of judge and executioner, director Kilian Riedhof appropriates this existence with a certain empathy and tenderness. He presents Stella as “despite herself”, under pressure from the Gestapista. Without being a rehabilitation that has no reason to exist, Stella, a German life it sheds new light on a part of the story while promoting emotion.
The poster for “Stella, a German Life”, by Kilian Riedhof (2024). (KINOVISTA)
The paper
Type : Historical drama
Director : Kilian Riedhof
Actors: Paula Beer, Jannis Niewöhner, Katja Riemann, Lucas Miko, Bakim Lafiti
Pay: Germany
Duration : 2h01
Sortie: January 17, 2024
Distributor: Kinovist
Warning: scenes, comments or images may offend the sensibilities of viewers
Synopsis: Stella grew up in Berlin under the Nazi regime. She dreams of a career as a jazz singer, despite all the repressive measures. Finally forced into hiding with her parents in 1944, her life turned into a sinful tragedy. Inspired by the true story of Stella Goldschlag.
2024-01-14 11:45:33
#tragic #story #Jewish #informant #Berlin #war