Ich bin dein Mensch

I’m Your Man
Alma is a scientist at the famous Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In order to obtain research funds for her studies, she accepts an offer to participate in an extraordinary experiment. For three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot whose artificial intelligence has been designed to allow it to morph into that of her ideal life partner. Enter Tom, a machine in (handsome) human form, created to make her happy. What ensues is a tragicomic tale that explores notions of love, longing and what makes us human.
The multi-talented Maria Schrader, winner of a Silver Bear for acting and an accomplished filmmaker, has adapted a story by Emma Braslavsky and infused it with the suggestive forces of cinema. Displaying a deep understanding of acting chemistry, she aptly casts and directs her leading pair, who make an amusingly unnatural, failed match. But what more fertile terrain can there be than to study the frisson between analysis and feeling? After all, poetry can make use of left-brain logic too.
by Maria Schrader
with Maren Eggert, Dan Stevens, Sandra Hüller, Hans Löw, Wolfgang Hübsch, Annika Meier, Falilou Seck, Jürgen Tarrach, Henriette Richter-Röhl, Monika Oschek
Germany 2021 German 105’ Colour Rating R12

Part of the Berlinale Summer Special

With

  • Maren Eggert (Alma)
  • Dan Stevens (Tom)
  • Sandra Hüller (Employee)
  • Hans Löw (Julian)
  • Wolfgang Hübsch (Father Felser)
  • Annika Meier (Cora)
  • Falilou Seck (Dean Roger)
  • Jürgen Tarrach (Dr. Stuber)
  • Henriette Richter-Röhl (Steffi)
  • Monika Oschek (Woman in Coffee Shop)

Crew

Director Maria Schrader
Screenplay Jan Schomburg, Maria Schrader Based loosely on the story “Ich bin dein Mensch” by Emma Braslavsky
Cinematography Benedict Neuenfels
Editing Hansjörg Weißbrich
Music Tobias Wagner
Sound Design Daniel Iribarren, Sebastian Morsch
Sound Patrick Veigel
Production Design Cora Pratz
Costumes Anette Guther
Make-Up Barbara Kreuzer, Andrea Allroggen
Assistant Director Tanja Däberitz
Casting Anja Dihrberg
Line Producer Marcus Kreuz
Production Manager Martin Rohrbeck
Producer Lisa Blumenberg
Executive Producers Maria Schrader, Dan Stevens
Commissioning Editors Jan Berning, Katharina Dufner SWR

Produced by

Letterbox Filmproduktion

Maria Schrader

She rose to international prominence as an actor in 1999 with Aimée & Jaguar for which she won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale. She has worked with directors including Margarethe von Trotta, Doris Dörrie, Peter Greenaway, Max Färberböck, Rajko Grlic and Agnieszka Holland. She made her directing debut in 2007 with Love Life, from the novel by Zeruya Shalev. Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe, her film about Stefan Zweig’s life in exile, premiered at Locarno and won the Audience Award at the European Film Awards. In 2020, she was the first German director to win an Emmy for her work on the series Unorthodox.

Filmography

2007 Liebesleben (Love Life) 2014 24H Jerusalem; documentary , 1 episode 2016 Vor der Morgenröte (Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe) 2020 Unorthodox; series 2021 Ich bin dein Mensch (I’m Your Man)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021