GOETHE FILMS: Lose My Self – A Portrait of Sandra Hüller
Presented by the Goethe-Institut with the Austrian Cultural Forum
Whether in the Cannes hit comedy "Toni Erdmann" or the exorcism drama "Requiem", the prolific Sandra Hüller (who was just named German "Actress of the Year") commands the screen, winning 3x best actress at the Berlinale, a European Film Award & the Toronto Film Critics Association Award. At TIFF19 she shone in the French productions "Proxima" & "Sibyl". GOETHE FILMS honors the versatile artist with a mid-career retrospective of many of her best features & shorts, some known, some discoveries.
Theatre Actress of the Year 2020
German Cross of Merit 2020
"Amour Fou" (Austria/Luxembourg/Germany, 2014, 96 min.), directed by Jessica Hausner ("Lourdes"), starring Sandra Hüller ("Toni Erdmann"), Birte Schnöink ("Lore"), Christian Friedel ("The White Ribbon"), Stephan Grossmann ("Above Us Only Sky"), Alissa Wilms ("The Reader") and others
Loosely based on the double suicide of the celebrated German author Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel in 1811, this beautiful period film is an austere yet humorous take on mortality and love. Mournful young poet Heinrich (Friedel) tries in vain to convince his cousin Marie (Hüller) to join him in suicide pact. Whilst coming to terms with her refusal, Heinrich meets Henriette (Schnöink), the wife of a business acquaintance. The beautiful young women is at first mystified by his perplexing offer, but she acquiesces when she is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Austrian auteur Hausner deconstructs the traditional tropes of romance and comedy in this wry but profound chamber piece, which was lauded by the critics and played TIFF14.
"Amour Fou’ Is A Delightful Comedy Of Errors." — Indie Wire
"Heinrich's companion, a rich socialite (played by the ever-marvelous Sandra Hüller), has denied Heinrich's request to die by his side, choosing to marry instead." — Roger Ebert
"Marie - a wonderfully caustic Sandra Hüller" — Slant
Awards
Lisbon & Estoril Meo Film Festival 2014: Best Film
Austrian Academy Award 2015: Best Script
International Film Festival FICUNAM Mexico 2015: Best Director
Nominated for the Luxemburgish Film Award 2016
Festivals
Festival de Cannes 2014 Un Certain Regard
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2014
Melbourne International Film Festival 2014
Toronto International Film Festival 2014
Montreal Film Festival 2014
Vienna International Film Festival 2014 Opening Film
First Look Showcase 2015 Museum of the Moving Image New York
Max Ophüls Film Festival 2015 Saarbrücken
Rotterdam International Film Festival 2015
Sandra Hüller (born in 1978) discovered her passion for acting as a child. On stage, she often plays strong women, such as the widow of Nirvana’s front singer Kurt Cobain in Tom Schneider's play “For Love” (2009), Queen Elizabeth I in “Virgin Queen” (2009) at Volksbühne Berlin, or her most celebrated and current role as "Hamlet" at Schauspielhaus Bochum. She gained international recognition in the lead role in Maren Ade’s tragicomedy “Toni Erdmann” (2016), which premiered at Cannes and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards. At Berlinale 2020 she starred in the psychological drama "Sleep" as well as Sundance competition title "Exile". Next, Hüller will star in the comedy "The Black Square" by Peter Meister. She was recently named German "Actress of the Year".
The title of our GOETHE FILMS Sandra Hüller retrospective is taken from her film ”Lose My Self,” her second collaboration with director Jan Schomburg, whose drama “Above Us Only Sky” we are showing in this series. The feature series will be accompanied by Hüller shorts & experiments on our film blog.
Jessica Hausner was born in 1972 in Vienna, Austria. She studied directing at the Film Academy Vienna, where in 1996 she made the short film "Flora", which at the Locarno Festival. "Interview", her graduation film, won the Prix du Jury of the Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999. "Lovely Rita", her first feature film as well as her second feature film "Hotel" were presented in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, as was "Amour Fou". Her latest, "Little Joe", won Best Actress at Cannes 2019.
Related Events:
REQUIEM by Hans-Christian Schmid
ABOVE US ONLY SKY by Jan Schomburg
FINSTERWORLD by Frauke Finsterwalder
EXILE by Visar Morina
IN THE AISLES by Thomas Stuber
Part of the Goethe-Institut's focus on German film
Back
