Films

Amour Fou

Film Info

Austria 2014 Director: Jessica Hausner

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Amour Fou

Synopsis

Berlin, the Romantic Era: Young poet Heinrich wishes to conquer the inevitability of death through love, yet is unable to convince his sceptical cousin Marie to join him in a suicide pact. It is whilst coming to terms with this refusal, ineffably distressed by his cousin's insensitivity to the depth of his feelings, that Heinrich meets Henriette, the wife of a business acquaintance. Heinrich's subsequent offer to the beguiling young woman at first holds scant appeal, that is until Henriette discovers she is suffering from a terminal illness. AMOUR FOU is a "romantic comedy" based loosely on the suicide of the poet Henrich von Kleist in 1811.

Cast & Crew

Director

Jessica Hausner
Producer

Philippe Bober, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Bady Minck, Bruno Wagner, Antonin Svoboda, Martin Gschlacht
Screenwriter

Jessica Hausner
Director of photography

Martin Gschlacht
Main Cast

Birte Schnöink, Christian Friedel, Stephan Grossmann
Editor (Cut)

Karina Ressler
Sound

Nicolas Tran Trong
Production Design

Katharina Wöppermann
Costume Design

Tanja Hausner

Director's comment

While writing the script I took as my inspiration the historical characters of Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel, but without intending to produce a biographical account; I am much more interested in telling a story about the ambivalence of love, a story with more general validity. The historical setting permits me to tell the story from a distance, and despite the serious subject (double suicide) this also allows a certain laconic humour to be employed. As well as this, the historical context lends the film an interesting multi-faceted quality; one expression of this comes in the dialogues about the administrative reforms in Germany during the years 1810 and 1811. On the one hand these reforms reflect the powerful social and political upheaval taking place at the time, so they help solidify the epoch which is depicted in the film. At the same time the reforms are associated with a certain confusion or contradiction, and I am interested in portraying this: there were apparently very different opinions on these proposed reforms, each plausible in its own way, ranging from fervent support to vehement opposition. This is typical for a period of uncertainty, when it is difficult to know where to take a stand - and this theme runs through the whole film, which aims to present contradictory truths that exist at the same time, precluding an unambiguous response that dispels all doubts. The subjectivity of each standpoint is revealed, and this makes it impossible – in a time of paradigm shift – to understand exactly what is right or wrong.