Angela Schanelec: Marseille

Marseille, Angela Schanelec, 91’, Germany, ZDF 1.9.2005, OV with German subtitles

In her fourth film, Angela Schanelec sends her main character Sophie, a young photographer from Berlin, to Marseille in winter. Having left behind a complicated relationship, she wanders around the city with her camera, exploring its fringes and surrendering to the new. She enjoys an evening in the pub with someone she doesn’t know and who knows nothing about her. Her attempt to return fails. Only when she has nothing left is she truly free. As a filmmaker of the Berlin School, Schanelec is less interested in the events of the plot: “What I want to show are the consequences: Sophie’s state, her reaction to what happens to her.” Confronted by life’s inscrutability, the film observes Sophie’s attempt at self-empowerment.

Angela Schanelec (*1962), a well-known German director, actress and scriptwriter, is considered a representative of the Berlin School. Her career began as a theatre actress in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin. From 1995, she began directing her own feature films, which were shown in Cannes, Berlin and Locarno, among other places, and won several awards. In cooperation with Das kleine Fernsehspiel, she made Places in Cities (1998), Marseille (2004), Passing Summer (2001) and Afternoon (2010). The last two films featured in the Berlinale Forum, Orly (2010) as well.