Luise

  • 98'
  • Germany
  • 2023

Alsace, October 1918. In another month the Great War will be over – and the region lost to the political winds once more. Of course, Luise, living alone on a small farm since her mother died, cannot know this, and neither can Hélène, who seeks shelter with her after having killed a soldier, nor Hermann, who's following Hélène as he's chased by the authorities for the murder she committed. The trio represents the tensions and potentials that mark Alsace: Luise is Alsatian, and speaks all three languages of the territory; Hélène is French; Hermann is German, and both speak merely their respective mother tongues. An officer searching for Hermann adds another twist: he is of Alsatian descent but identifies as German and even serves in the Imperial Army – at a time when most Alsatian men served in the Navy to avoid finding themselves in fratricidal confrontations.

These are tragic figures in a world of unclear, fragile, shifting boundaries and identities – which includes everything, from the most public to the most intimate... A stunning, marvelously nuanced chamber drama anchored in David Herbert Lawrence's pansexual 1921 novella The Fox. A true jewel of classical filmmaking at its most restrained and refined!

 

Olaf Möller

  • 98'
  • Germany
  • 2023
Director
Matthias Luthardt
Premiere
World premiere
Countries of production
Germany, France
Year
2023
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
98'
Medium
DCP
Languages
French, German
Producers
Oliver Damian, Philippe Avril
Production Companies
27 Films Production, Les Films de l'Etranger
Sales
Pyramide International
Screenplay
Sebastian Bleyl, Matthias Luthardt
Cinematography
Lotta Kilian
Editor
Florian Miosge
Production Design
Olivier Meidinger
Sound Design
Philippe Fabbri
Music
Peteris Vasks
Cast
Luise Aschenbrenner, Christa Théret, Leonard Kunz
Director
Matthias Luthardt
Premiere
World premiere
Countries of production
Germany, France
Year
2023
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
98'
Medium
DCP
Languages
French, German
Producers
Oliver Damian, Philippe Avril
Production Companies
27 Films Production, Les Films de l'Etranger
Sales
Pyramide International
Screenplay
Sebastian Bleyl, Matthias Luthardt
Cinematography
Lotta Kilian
Editor
Florian Miosge
Production Design
Olivier Meidinger
Sound Design
Philippe Fabbri
Music
Peteris Vasks
Cast
Luise Aschenbrenner, Christa Théret, Leonard Kunz