‘Ingeborg Bachmann’ preview: Vicky Krieps stars as iconic feminist writer in Margarethe von Trotta’s Berlinale Golden Bear contender

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh from portraying Empress Elisabeth of Austria corsageLuxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps takes on another icon of Austrian culture in the title of German director Margarethe von Trotta’s Berlin competition Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey to the desert.

Born in Austria in 1926, Bachmann is an important figure in the post-war German-language landscape of German-language literature for her work that explores women’s struggle for a place in post-war society, as well as their confrontations with imperialism and fascism.

Von Trotta, herself a pioneering figure in the German film landscape, focuses on a six-year period in Bachmann’s life beginning in 1958, when she lived in Rome and had an on-and-off relationship with the famous Swiss playwright and novelist Max Frisch had.

When their relationship gets out of control, partly due to Bachmann’s own demands to be bound and free at the same time, the author travels to the desert with her friends, opera composer Hans Werner Henze and journalist Adolf Opel, to find their balance again and again. related to their writing. .

“It is very difficult to do justice to such a multifaceted, complicated, even enigmatic woman and artist in a film,” explains von Trotta.

“So I will limit myself to just six years of her life. The four years she spent with Max Frisch and the two years after that, when she suffered from the divorce and could only briefly “cure” herself with a desert trip with a younger man.

“In my opinion, Ingeborg Bachmann’s time with Max Frisch was an attempt on her part to live a devoted and free life at the same time. She was a confident woman who was very aware of her importance, but she also knew that in the 1950s and 1960s it was difficult for women to stand up for themselves, let alone be taken seriously.”

Sales agent The Match Factory has revealed the first international teaser starring Krieps.

The actress describes the project as a gift.

“Margarthe and I are two women who are affected by the same things, and by working on this project, we were able to communicate very well with the generations,” she says.

“It was incredibly exciting. And fulfilling. It was fascinating to see how certain themes remain relevant over the years. Especially on this topic – women’s empowerment – it was interesting to see how women come together because all too often we forget that we are not alone.”

Along with Krieps, Ronald Zehrfeld plays Frisch, Tobias Resch plays Opel and Basil Eidenbenz plays Henze.

Producers are Katrin Renz from Tellfilm from Zurich, Bady Minck from Amour Fou Luxembourg, Bettina Brokemper from Heimatfilm from Cologne and Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu from Amour Fou Vienna.