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Allemagne année 90 neuf zéro

Germany Year 90 Nine Zero | Deutschland Neu(n) Null
Retrospective 2026
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek, © ECM Records
The Western secret agent Lemmy Caution has been a “sleeper” in East Germany for decades. His handler orders him to make his way to the West, but in the wake of the dismantling of the German-German border, Lemmy seems unsure of the terrain – “Which way is the West?”. The disoriented spy wanders around the dissolving country. In Buchenwald and Weimar, he is confronted by apparitions of historical German cultural figures. In a strip-mining region, he meets Don Quixote and Sancho Panza girded up to tilt at windmills and fight modern dragons. Then he finally reaches Berlin and its topography of terror: “As soon as I crossed the border, I met the ghosts.”
That quote from F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu accurately describes the situation of audiences who were engulfed by an unremitting wave of fragmented thoughts and film quotes in this multi-layered collage of sound and images. Godard said in 1990: “You still see the old Germany and you see the new Germany, which is deeply American, while the old one was Prussian. And they will move each other. That’s what I wanted to do, to film that movement, those events.”
by Jean-Luc Godard (Director, Screenplay)
with Eddie Constantine, Hanns Zischler, Claudia Michelsen, Nathalie Kadem, Robert Wittmers, Kim Kashkashian, André S. Labarth France / Germany 1991 French, German 62' Colour

With

  • Eddie Constantine
  • Hanns Zischler
  • Claudia Michelsen
  • Nathalie Kadem
  • Robert Wittmers
  • Kim Kashkashian
  • André S. Labarth

Crew

Director Jean-Luc Godard
Screenplay Jean-Luc Godard
Cinematography Stepan Benda, Andreas Erben, Christophe Pollock
Editing Jean-Luc Godard
Costumes Julia Griep, Alexandra Pitz

Additional information

DCP: Casa Azul Films, Lausanne

Photos