Dhe novel “The Midday Woman” by Julia Franck was published in 2007, was awarded the German Book Prize and became one of the greatest sales successes in recent literary history. The fact that it took more than fifteen years for an adaptation for the cinema may certainly have something to do with the uncertainties of the film business, but it could also indicate that the “substance” (one of the most popular industry terms) does not fit in so easily common formats.
Helene Würsich’s story extends from the beginning of the 20th century to the period after the Second World War. A short series would be entirely conceivable or a multi-part series for television. The Austrian Barbara Albert, who lives in Berlin, ultimately chose the classic version.
One is a Nazi, the other is the man for true love
She tells “The Midday Woman” in feature length. In the almost 140 minutes, the historical focus is primarily determined by the two male figures who have a decisive impact on Helene’s life and survival. On the one hand there is Karl, an artistic, free-spirited existence, a man for true love. And later Wilhelm, a National Socialist, with whom Helene enters into an alliance of convenience and thus perhaps – who would or could judge? – goes too far.
The title “The Midday Woman” refers to a Slavic legend about a ghost woman whose menace can be banished through storytelling. This is mentioned briefly in the film, but it plays no role in the motif. The agricultural context in which the stories of the “Lunchwoman” belong is also largely missing – only in the background story is Helene driving to a farm; it is the last stop on her way through the decades and at the same time the moment in which she joins in faced with their most controversial decision.
Journey through the decades
It has to do with the most important theme of “Lunchwoman”: motherhood and female independence. Barbara Albert emphasizes that Helene comes from a realm of women, from a world in Bautzen in the 1920s in which – also because of the First World War – the place for men was often empty. Right from the start, Helene dreams of an existence in which she doesn’t have to rely on anyone. She wants to become a doctor and that’s why she goes to Berlin. There she finds a world of libertinage and decadence (this aspect is also emphasized by her sister’s drug addiction), but there she also experiences moments of lightheartedness before the story takes a radical turn.
Barbara Albert also sets the periods or epochs in her film apart stylistically and aesthetically. There are also the two clearly differently contoured actors Thomas Prenn as Karl and Max von der Groeben as Wilhelm – in Prenn you think you can still recognize the whole of classical Germany since Schiller, while von der Groeben has a motif of Nazi harshness that is rarely so explicitly recognizable in the cinema makes it clear, namely fear of sexuality. Mala Emde in the lead role maintains a perfect balance between these poles and across time. Your external suppleness always remains a plausible internal consequence. And so “The Midday Woman” also finds something like a middle ground that meets the challenges of the material to be mastered.
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