Halbe Treppe (Grill Point)

Seldom have I seen so many people laughing so heartily during a Berlinale press screening as I did for Andreas Dresen’s Halbe Treppe (Grill Point). Not just laughing ­ but warmly chuckling, downright giggling, thoroughly enjoying this film-tale »cut from real life« although the story itself really wasn’t all that funny. It’s about two couples, both married for ten years and long-time friends, who wake up one day to find that the polish has worn off, that there aren’t any more kicks in life ...
       Couple Number One: Ellen (Steffi Kühnert) works at the perfume counter of a department store, while Uwe (Axel Prahl) runs a snack-bar ­ more like a tent-stand for currywurst and schnitzel. The grill point is »half-way-down« an open-air staircase, the »Halbe Treppe« in the title. Couple Number Two: Chris (Thorsten Merten) is a radio announcer with the charm of a provincial joker, while Katrin (Gabriele Maria Schmeide) is a licensed truck-driver. Now comes the rub: Ellen, although the mother of two kids, is smitten by Chris’s off-the-cuff humor, who in turn likes to have fun on the side. The upshot? A provincial escapade that gets out of hand when Katrin catches the cheating pair, her husband Chris and neighbor Ellen, in the bathtub.

       Where do we go from here? Out of this comedy-of-manners might have come a touching social drama, or a tragicomedy. Instead, Andreas Dresen ­ justly praised for his award-winning Nachtgestalten (Night Shapes) (1998), a portrait of Berlin in three interlocking stories, and Die Polizistin (The Police Woman) (2000), a telefeature filmed in Rostock ­ has opted this time for improvisation. The free-flowing story, minus a screenplay, was shot on the spot with a digital camera. And the original concept consisted of little more than a few pages of dialogue: two couples falling into confusion and disorder. Accompanying the story as a running gag is the gradual appearance of the »17 Hippies« band. First, one musician takes his place on the half-stairs before the snack-bar. Later, a pair shows up ... then more ... until the whole band is beating up a storm. As for the dialogue, it’s largely improvised by actors who had previously jobbed for on-the-spot experience in the places where the protagonists work in the film ­ in and around Frankfurt/Oder in eastern Germany on the Polish border.
       Andreas Dresen, with a sure hand for handling actors, knows that comic moments spring from unexpected real-life situations. Take, for instance, the bird-cage sequence. When the door to the bird-cage is left open, out flies the parakeet and heads for the open window ­ next we see Ellen and Uwe wandering around before their Plattenbau apartment complex with cage in hand and calling »Hans-Peter« to entice the stray bird back. The bird-cage sequence also serves as a metaphor for Ellen’s shaky marriage and Uwe’s efforts to win back Ellen after she’s up and left the apartment with the kids. Eventually, he hopes to have her back again. But only Hans-Peter returns. From time to time, Dresen inserts interviews with the actors into the action to lend the film even more authenticity. For he doesn’t want the audience to forget that what’s happening on the screen is drawn from real life.

       During the Berlinale Andreas Dresen was awarded in the Berlin Rathaus the prestigious Andrzej Wajda / Philip Morris Freedom Prize. »Like Andrzej Wajda,« said Gary McVey of the American Cinema Foundation, »Dresen consistently portrays the human condition with honest insight and compassion.« In his address the honoree thanked Günter Reisch, his teacher and mentor at the Babelsberg Film School, whom he had assisted as his master student. Halbe Treppe was awarded a Silver Bear and Prize of the German Art Houses at the Berlinale. Andreas Dresen has also received a Lola Nomination for Best Director.

Dorothea Moritz

Halbe Treppe (Grill Point). Germany, 2001. Peter Rommel Film. Prod Peter Rommel. Scr/Dir Andreas Dresen. Cam Michael Hammon. Ed Jörg Hauschild. Set Susanne Hopf. Mus 17 Hippies. Cast Steffi Kühnert (Ellen), Gabriele Maria Schmeide (Katrin), Thorsten Merten (Christian), Axel Prahl (Uwe). 105 mins, color, 35mm, Dolbe SR.