Barbara

Director's Statement

In the films of recent years, East Germany has often appeared quite desaturated. No colours, no wind, only the grey of border crossings and the fatigued faces, much like those of the bleary-eyed passengers on the sleeper inter-zonal trains at Gera’s railway station. We didn’t want to film a portrait of an oppressed nation and then juxtapose it with love as this innocent, pure and liberating force. We didn’t want any symbols. You just end up decoding them and what’s left is what you knew all along. We watched several films in preparation. One of the films that deeply impressed us was TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT by Howard Hawks. Two lovers, Bacall and Bogart, suspiciously eyeing each other, who cheat and lie, with secret police all around them and so constantly forced to speak between the lines. Strangely enough though, they can both handle it and they enjoy watching each other deal with the situation: the elegance, the intelligence, the precise skirmishes of their dialogues, as though seemingly ignited by the censored and controlled world around them. You clearly see how circumstances can produce new types of people who kiss, speak and look differently.