Mein letzter Film ­ Hannelore Elsner’s Monologue

Hannelore Elsner gives an astonishing performance in this 90-minute monologue film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment) and penned by writer Bodo Kirchhoff (author of Schundroman and Parlando), who has adapted his stage text to the screen. Phrases like »love is the only positive catastrophe in life,« or »one lives ­ and ages,« spoken by the actress, awaken in the viewer similar, if not the same, feelings in recalling certain situations that each of us has lived to the core. You nod your head in agreement when Hannelore Elsner concedes that »desire is the last chance for a couple,« or poses the question »why couldn’t you spare me that flirt with the young girl?«
       In the film Marie confesses that after the many affairs she has had since separating from Richard, one with a soccer trainer, another with a politician, she was happy only with one man: »That would have been enough.« When I saw the film on a Monday evening, I was amazed to see so many young people in the audience. For isn't this the life story of a 50-year-old woman, who finally separated from her husband ­ also her discoverer ­ after 30 years of marriage. Up to four years ago, they still were an »unbeatable couple,« but Marie couldn’t stand any more the countless escapades of her prosperous partner. For some time now, she has been living alone in the apartment they had formerly shared, but she’s now determined to leave it forever. She’s taking with her just one suitcase and only a few souvenirs ­ to »cleanse her soul« of the past. To cut the ties with Richard and their shared time together, she leaves behind a video that a young cameraman (Wanja Mues) has discretely filmed for her. It’s dedicated only to »him« because this way Marie can let loose with all her pent-up feelings. This makes for a grand monologue, well acted, well written. It’s this symbiosis that assures the success of the film. What a fortunate opportunity for an actress with the format of Hannelore Elsner, whose title role in Oskar Roehler’s Die Unberührbare (No Place to Go) (reviewed in KINO 73) won her several awards.
       My Last Film convinces with its vitality and its light irony, for a woman doesn’t leave the battlefield defeated when she has »withstood the worse and still is strong enough to continue on.«

Dorothea Paschen