23/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: We spoke to the German-French director about her adaptation of Daniela Krien’s historical novel and coming-of-age story

(© Alamachere)

German-French director Emily Atef has presented her new film, which focuses on a female protagonist played by Marlene Burow, in the competition of this year's Berlinale. In Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emily Atef
film profile], we follow a young girl ready to give everything up for love. We spoke to the director about her characters and her love of nature.

Cineuropa: What interested you enough about Daniela Krien’s material to make you want to turn it into a film?
Emily Atef: When I read the novel, I directly saw a movie in front of me. The book is written so cinematically, so sensually: the hot summer, the insects, the bodies, the sweat, Maria’s feeling of longing, the emancipation of this young girl. That interested and inspired me.

The book is written in the first person. When did you decide that the film would not be told from a first-person perspective?
For me, it's still a first-person perspective: it's her perspective on that summer and on that relationship, but without words. And that was exactly the challenge – to recount everything without her speaking, without a voice-over. Cinema is images; cinema has to be as sensual as possible. This relationship between Maria and Henner exists without many words anyway. They hardly speak, yet we understand their desire for each other. We understand that it's an amour fou that, like all amours fous, can only end tragically.

How did you work with the actress to give her this air of mystery?
I saw a lot of girls, 60 in all. I was looking for someone who would have a down-to-earth quality. The character has a kind of old soul, even though she's very young. Marlene Burow has a certain strength that gives the role a kind of determination. You should believe that she wants it that way and not that she is being manipulated. She is also very minimalistic in her acting, which was important for this role. Beyond that, we prepared carefully. She read a lot, she kept a diary, we talked a great deal, and we discussed her backstory. The novel is, of course, fantastic for an actress because it contains a lot of the character's thoughts. Because she doesn't talk much, she seems particularly mysterious.

Did you have an idea of what Maria had to look like, and how close did the actress come to that image?
Of course, I had an image in my head subconsciously. But I was basically looking for a girl who would be very natural and who would also have a certain strength in her body. In the end, it was her aura that convinced me more than her looks. It was important what happened between her and the male lead.

The novel is set in a specific historical era, shortly after the reunification of Germany. What connection do you have to this, and how did you approach the visual aspects of the time?
I was born in West Berlin, but then I emigrated as a child. I remember the moment the wall came down very clearly. It wasn't until later, in 2001, when I came to Berlin to study at film school, that I had friends who were from the East, and it wasn't until then that I realised exactly what was happening. I had Daniela Krien, the author of the novel, by my side as an advisor, in order to portray that time authentically. It was important to us that the East should not only be portrayed as grey and sad. I wanted the characters to be shown in a multi-layered and lively way, as the people there are and were.

Where did you shoot?
We shot in Thuringia. I only discovered it through working on the film. I really liked the local natural surroundings. We also met some fantastic people who helped us and gave us a warm welcome.

You have already made other films in which nature plays an important role.
Nature inspires me a lot; it is sensual. For me, it's like a chorus in the Greek tragedies, watching what's happening and seeming to say, “Watch out!”

The aesthetic of the film is rather bright, and there are hardly any scenes in the dark. Could you tell us more about your ideas for the way the film had to look?
For me, the light-dark contrast was very important. I saw Henner's house as a cave; it’s cramped and is often dark in there. It's like a forbidden place, but the light always finds a way to get in.