Film Review | "Ich verstehe Ihren Unmut"
The frustration of the invisible worker

This German co-production made with the help of Croatia, Bosnia, and Turkey, a 92-minute feature film had its world premiere in Berlin in the Panorama category, known for its highly political nature.

By Victor Bélanger

Although it does not feature extraordinary cinematography, the concept behind the work helps us understand a reality that is hidden from most of us. Throughout the film, we follow Heike, a 59-year-old property manager and concierge. She must constantly deal with angry customers related to her cleaning business. In the film, she gets into trouble when she tries to hire an illegal immigrant worker, a highly topical issue today. We follow the complications she faces in getting him a job. Although Heike's techniques are questionable, we sympathize with her difficult daily life, her strained romantic relationship, and her awful workplace. But she does'nt give up despite her outbursts of anger and the insults she regularly confronted with. The janitor constantly dances around the limits of acceptable behavior for a team leader, allowing us to reflect on the living conditions of people who are often invisible, like her.

An extraordinary performance

Ich verstehe ihren Unmut fully deserves its place at the Berlinale. Its main strength is the environment it manages to recreate. Director Kilian Armando Friedrich clearly attempts to demonstrate the anxiety-inducing atmosphere of low-paying work. The fact that the scenes are filmed in a single take and that the frame constantly zooms in on Heike's character makes the film often unbearable in terms of tension. Thus, we suffocate with the poor concierge, and more and more as the film progresses. However, none of this would be possible without the phenomenal acting. Sabin Thalau (Heike) completely immerses us in the character with her ability to express highly volatile emotions. The viewer fully feels the weight of making choices without benefits and working tirelessly to the point of exhaustion. She gives an extraordinary performance, particularly thanks to the recurring symptoms of a panic attack that she cannot forget. Without her, the film would not be the same. The film also features an exceptional soundtrack. Its strength does'nt come from the music itself or the quality of the sound recording, but rather from the emptiness it evokes. The mixing is so fluid and believable that we no longer try to situate ourselves in the story; we are completely absorbed by it. We watch and listen to the feature film without even questioning it. Thus, Ich verstehe Ihren Unmut succeeds in creating an anxiety-inducing, realistic, and symbiotic environment.

Ich verstehe Ihren Unmut is our German favorite at this year's Berlin Film Festival. It makes us feel emotions that are very different from the other films presented. Indeed, while many films at the Berlinale deal with more spectacular subjects on screen, such as armed conflicts in the Middle East, this film takes us somewhere completely different, while dealing with an equally important subject. Rare are the films that manage to bring all viewers together around the same idea, but I can assure you that this one was unanimously acclaimed. At the end of the screening, everyone in the audience wanted to shout out in defense of poor Heike and try to help her escape her misery. This is precisely the strength of the Berlinale's Panorama section: it succeeds in making us feel strong emotions and inspires us to change the world, nothing less! Thanks to this beautiful film by Kilian Armando Friedrich, invisible workers will —maybe— be a little less invisible.