back

Glück

Bliss
Panorama 2021
© Flare Film
Alternating between waiting in the break room, having sex and lining up for the next john: Maria, a self-confident Italian in her mid-twenties, is new to the Berlin brothel where Sascha has been working for a long time. With her tattoos, her piercings and her penchant for writing poetry in a notebook during breaks, she is quite different from the others. The two women are immediately attracted to each other. Maria keeps her cash in a locker in the Berlin State Library. She regularly assures her father on the phone that she is doing well and earning a lot of money. For Sascha, the regional train connects her not only with her old life in provincial Brandenburg but also with her 11-year-old son who lives with his father. When she takes Maria to a village festival and introduces her as her new girlfriend, Sascha brings with her the assertive, non-conformist ways of the city. For the first time she is trying to be true to who she really is.
Filmed with precision and a lightness of touch, Henrika Kull’s second feature tells a love story set in a place where the female body is a commodity and depicts two charismatic sex workers who manage to charm the viewer just as much as everyone around them.
by Henrika Kull (Written and Directed by)
with Katharina Behrens, Adam Hoya, Nele Kayenberg, Jean-Luc Bubert, Petra Kauner, Bence Máté, Sarah Junghauß, Mandy Schicker Germany 2021 German, English, Italian 90' Colour

Part of the Berlinale Summer Special

With

  • Katharina Behrens (Sascha)
  • Adam Hoya (Maria)
  • Nele Kayenberg (Scarlett)
  • Jean-Luc Bubert (Mike)
  • Petra Kauner (Petra)
  • Bence Máté (Stefan)
  • Sarah Junghauß (Lara)
  • Mandy Schicker (Maya)

Crew

Written and Directed by Henrika Kull
Cinematography Carolina Steinbrecher
Editing Henrika Kull, Anna-Lena Engelhardt, Hannah Schwegel
Music Dascha Dauenhauer
Sound Design Thomas Neumann
Sound Manja Ebert
Production Design Theresa Bischof, Theresa Reiwer
Costumes Wiebke Christin Lebus
Assistant Director Florine Lindner
Production Manager Simon B. Stein
Producer Martin Heisler

World Sales

Reel Suspects

Produced by

Flare Film

Photos

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Henrika Kull

© Alexander Hotter

Born in southern Germany in 1984, she studied sociology in Cologne. After writing her diploma thesis on the sociology of film, she took up a degree in film production at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) in 2012. In 2014, she began studying directing at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf under tutors including Barbara Albert, for whom she was also an assistant. Her feature-length graduation film Jibril premiered in the 2018 Panorama and won several awards including the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award for Best Film. She was a member of the jury for the Heiner Carow Prize during the 2019 Berlinale.

Filmography (selection)

2014 Rite of Spring; short film · Intimate Distance; short film 2016 Absently Present; short documentary 2017 Rosinen; short film 2018 Jibril 2021 Glück

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021