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    Der Fischer und seine Frau – German Folktale à la Japanese

    By Nina Moritz | August 13, 2008

    Mantje, mantje timpetee, Buttje, Buttje in der See, Meine Frau, die Ilsebill, will nicht so wie ich wohl will – Old German “Plattdeutsch” Maxim. In her new film Der Fischer und seine Frau (The Fisherman and His Wife) (2005) Doris Dörrie reaches back to the well-known folk tale about a fisherman and his wife, the story of a bewitched, talking fish who satisfies the greed of the fisherman’s wife.

    First, the fish favors her with a hut, instead of the old “Pisspott” in which she lives with her husband. Then a castle, afterwards a king’s palace, then an emperor’s residence, finally the Papal Throne. But when she says she wants to be like God, she finds herself back in the old Pisspott.

    In Doris Dörrie’s film version Otto (Christian Ulmen), together with his business partner Leo (Simon Verhoeven), buys and sells Japanese breeding-fish. Ida (Alexandra Maria Lara), a fabric designer, is on the lookout for new patterns. They meet in Japan, fall in love, and get married on the spot in a Japanese ceremony. The story of Ida and Otto is inspired, and commented upon, by two fish – a couple that had been transformed because after three years they didn’t love each other any more. And they can only be released through another couple who surmounts this three year-hurdle. Ida and Otto discover both of these fish in Japan. They take them back with them to Germany because they could shed their scales to become a valuable fish-breeding specimen. Thus, the name “Vielleicht-Fische” (Maybe Fish).

    Back in Germany, the pair live at first in a camping-wagon. Until Ida receives her first commission to create a fabric based on a fish pattern that should be her brand name. At the same time, Ida discovers she’s pregnant. A child or a career? She wants both. And besides that, a real apartment, a washing-machine, a garden… After moving into the flat, Ida feels cramped again – “so a real bathroom would be nice.” Thanks to her rapid rise in the fashion world, the family can soon afford a little house. Otto takes care of their son Tommy, while Ida deals with her career.

    Finally, the female “Maybe Fish” really does become an exceptional breeding specimen – and up the career ladder they go again: Ida lives with husband, child, and servants in a villa on a lake. But when the “Maybe Fish” returns to its old scales again, the house has to be sold. Here they are sitting again in their old Pisspott – for Otto has re-purchased the camping-wagon – but they are happier now than before. The vicious circle has been broken. Or has it? One day, Ida asks herself: “Are there textiles for camping-wagons?”

    Japan, the nation of fish-cults, remains ever present in the film’s foreground. Not only in the red color characterized by the temperamental Ida, while blue reflects Otto’s peaceful presence of mind. But it surfaces as well in the traditional Japanese wedding and in the wedding night, with its shadow-theater projected upon the awning of Otto’s tent. It’s also present in the little plastic cat with its waving paw, a souvenir brought back from Japan that takes on symbolic meaning. Each time Ida and Otto move to a new dwelling, we see bigger and bigger versions of the couple’s waving cat. The story of greed in The Fisherman and His Wife is a modern interpretation of a classic fairy tale, updated for young and old.

    – Nina Moritz
    holds a Master of Arts in French, Italian and Art History. ninamoritz@hotmail.com

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