Plätze in Städten

It is no coincidence that Schanelec employs images from Jean Eustache’s beautiful LA ROSIÈRE DE PESSAC to usher in her protagonist’s journey to France. Both filmmakers share an interest in disparate moments and dialogues that create possible lives. In their films, emotions are connected to time and the society that tries to suppress them. The result is a cinema that knows itself and longs to escape in moments of desperation. Yet their respective images do not cease to exist. In their respective struggles, both filmmakers forge a direct connection to life. In this specific case, Schanelec follows Mimmi, a student searching for herself. Sometimes she almost disappears within the dimly-lit images or because Schanelec only shows her at the edge of the frame. We recognize Mimmi in the reflections of city lights though, and in her overriding feelings of longing, insecurity, and loneliness. As a filmmaker who tries to protect her protagonists instead of simply exposing them to our gaze, Schanelec finds a gentle, honest way to get closer to somebody while still keeping a distance. Like in Eustache’s work, a moment of truth might just be a fleeting incident that can only be saved by cinema. (Patrick Holzapfel)

In the presence of Angela Schanelec.