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L’ état et moi

Forum 2022
© Markus Koob, SchrammFilm, Salzgeber
In L’état et moi, Max Linz invents a composer named Hans List, who fought on the barricades of the Paris Commune in 1871 and now wakes up to a new life in the present, moving through Berlin-Mitte sans papiers. His composition “Les Misérables“ is being rehearsed at the State Opera, which he appears in incognito as an extra. Sophie Rois plays two roles in the film, that of List and that of his nemesis, judge Praetorius-Camusot. Completing the ensemble are an awkward legal intern, a grumpy museum guard (the inimitable Kerstin Grassmann), and two authoritarian personalities.
Linz works with puns on names and wordplay. He enjoys slapstick as well as breaks in style and mistaken identities, with a penchant for chains of unlikely coincidence and pulling out all the stops, employing the cruder comedic registers too. But beneath all the screen-filling nonsense, things get serious: how are class issues and cultural production connected? What is to be made of soft power cultural diplomacy? And to what tradition do the police and the judiciary belong in Germany? The film deals with all this and more. As Sophie Rois sings tenderly: “I may have failed, but red won’t be derailed.”
by Max Linz
with Sophie Rois, Jeremy Mockridge, Martha Mechow, Bernhard Schütz, Hauke Heumann, Bernd Moss, Sarah Ralfs Germany 2022 German, French 85’ Colour

With

  • Sophie Rois
  • Jeremy Mockridge
  • Martha Mechow
  • Bernhard Schütz
  • Hauke Heumann
  • Bernd Moss
  • Sarah Ralfs

Crew

Written and Directed by Max Linz
Cinematography Markus Koob
Editing Kathrin Krottenthaler
Music Stefan Will, Fabian Reifarth
Sound Design Adrian Baumeister, Henry Uhl
Sound Etienne Haug
Production Design Robin Metzer
Costumes Nina Kroschinske
Make-Up Sabine Schumann
Assistant Director Lukas Hofmann
Producers Anton Kaiser, Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber

Produced by

SCHRAMM FILM Koerner Weber Kaiser

http://www.schrammfilm.de/ http://www.schrammfilm.de/

Photos

Max Linz

© Christian Werner

Born in 1984 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He initially studied film studies and philosophy, followed by film directing. Max Linz works as an author and a director. From 2019 to 2021, he was guest professor for stage design at the Berlin University of the Arts. His films Ich will mich nicht künstlich aufregen (2014) and Weitermachen Sanssouci (2019) were screened at the Berlinale Forum.

Filmography

2011 Die Finanzen des Großherzogs Radikant Film (The Finances of the Grand Duke Radicant Film); 33 min. 2012 Das Oberhausener Gefühl – Eine Depressentation in zehn Folgen; 68 min. 2014 Ich will mich nicht künstlich aufregen (Asta Upset); 84 min., Forum 2014 2019 Weitermachen Sanssouci; 80 min., Forum 2019 2022 L'état et moi; 85 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022