REQUIEM (GERMANY, 2005).
Wednesday, 28th November 2007

Germany, 2005. Directed by Hans-Christian Schmid.
Screenplay: Bernd Lange. Photography (Colour): Bogumil Godfrejow.
Certificate: “12A”. Length: 92 minutes.
Leading Players: SANDRA HŰLLER (Michaela Klingler), BURGHART KLAUBNER (Karl Klingler), IMOGEN KOGGE (Marianne Klingler), ANNA BLOMEIER (Hanna
Imhof), NICHOLAS REINKE (Stefan Weiser), JENS HARZER (Father
Martin Borchert), WALTER SCHMIDINGER (Father Gerhard Landauer).

Her name is Sandra Hüller and she is an actress of extraordinary ability. That was brought home to me when, in the summer of 2006, I saw this German film Requiem in which she plays the very demanding leading role. Later in that same year I saw The Queen and Notes On a Scandal, films in which Dame Helen Mirren and Dame Judi Dench were at the height of their powers, and by the year’s end I concluded that the three performances were neck and neck when it came to picking the best work by an actress in the releases of that year. For an unknown actress like Sanrda Hüller to be in their company was a considerable achievement in itself but it’s one rendered even more remarkable by the fact that Huller, a stage actress of distinction, had never appeared in a feature film before. Whatever help she may have received from her director, Hans-Christian Schmid, it is astonishing to see a young actress – Sandra is still in her twenties – adjust so completely to a new medium, for there is not the slightest hint of theatricality in her portrayal. Quite rightly this newcomer won the Best Actress Award for her work in this film at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival.

While Requiem would be worth seeing for Hüller alone, it is also a great calling card for Schmid and for his writer Bernd Lange who have tackled a difficult subject with insight and distinction,. Both men live in Berlin but had not worked together before, although Schmid had directed earlier films not released in this country and Lange is both an author and director. Their close collaboration was to prove ideal for this material but to explain why I must comment on the subject-matter of Requiem. It’s a story that was triggered by real-life events but, as an opening statement makes clear, the actuality was treated as a starting point for a tale in which the characters are fictional. This made it the easier for the film-makers to address in their own way the issues inherent in the subject and to invite the audience to respond similarly. Hüller plays the 21 year old Michaela Klingler who in the early 1970s is still living with her parents. However she is driven by a strong desire to leave home in order to go to university. On this issue her mother, Marianne (Imogen Kogge) is opposed but her father, Karl (Burghart Klaubner), is sympathetic to her wishes. Unfortunately he is not necessarily being wise in backing her wish for a more independent life: that’s because Michaela suffers from epilepsy and, despite having had extensive treatment for it, she has been warned of possible recurrences. Consequently, her mother’s attitude, even if somewhat possessive, can be seen as being grounded in justified fears for her daughter.

However, it’s the father who wins the day and Michaela sets out for her first term at university where she is delighted to meet an old friend, Hanna (Anna Blomeier), who is a fellow student. What’s more, in spite of her reserve, which could partly be attributed to her intense interest in religion, Michaela finds there her first serious boy-friend in the person of Stefan (Nicholas Reinke). That she has never developed such a relationship before could be due to doubts about sex, to her awareness of the likely disapproval of her parents should they find out or, indeed, to the worries she has about her own health. In the event any such fears on her part seem all too justified when an attack occurs and subsequently she seems to be hearing voices that call her a slut.

As the story develops, Requiem becomes a study of a girl who feels possessed and it’s presented with compelling conviction and with the tragedy of her situation fully understood and expressed. Schmid’s attitude to the material has been clarified by remarks that he made when an interviewer enquired what it was that had drawn him to this subject. He at once referred to the impact made on him by a report he had read concerning a pilgrimage to Klingenberg. “This is where the Catholic student Anneliese Michel died in 1976 of malnourishment and exhaustion after a series of several dozen exorcisms. I was amazed that, even twenty years after her death, she was still venerated as a martyr by pilgrims from all over Europe. I became interested in her story, read a great deal about other exorcisms in the 20th century and began to write a treatment. That was nearly ten years ago and the story hasn’t let go of me since, but I couldn’t find the courage to put the young woman at the centre of my story. Later I heard that Bernd Lange, then studying at the Filmakademie Luduigsburg was also working on this topic. The film we have now created together wants above all to inspire understanding for Michaela’s position, for her behaviour and her condition. My position here is clear and rational: I do not believe that demonic possessions exist. Nevertheless, I take the main character and her perceptions very seriously. I try to imagine a person who is frightened, who suffers from a psychosis, who has delusions and hallucinations.”

What this means in practical terms and what makes Schmid and Lange perfect for this material is that Requiem is rendered totally believable. All too often other films that deal with exorcisms, The Exorcist itself being the most obvious example, are sensational exercises which, with special effects well to the fore, emerge as works akin to horror movies. This film has no special effects at all and is quite close to how Ken Loach might have handled the subject. One suspects, however, that he would have been keen to portray the priests as wholly reprehensible figures, especially when it comes to the collusion between them and Michaela’s parents when all agree that to turn to exorcism is the only possible solution to Michaela’s plight. Requiem is all the stronger because, although it offers Michaela’s friend Anna as the voice of reason, it depicts both the doctors with all their pills and the priests with their rituals as people who mean well but fail to help. Michaela’s tragedy is to be trapped between them, despairing over the extensive and unsuccessful medical treatment and increasingly coming to believe that she is not in fact ill but is being tested by God. It is part of the skill of this film that there is no over-emphasis: if we so wish we can see Michaela’s state as essentially psychological, something brought about by her repressive home life causing a sense of guilt that triggers the need for some kind of rebellion which in her case can only break out by indirect subconscious means. But, however you choose to view it, this is a tragic tale in which the pathos is the greater because everyone involved is in their own eyes acting for the best. That this film should be so powerful in expressing all this is down to Schmid, to Lange and, of course, to the wonderful Hüller: see it and be moved.

Selected Filmography (Title underlined shown by the EFS):
Sekt oder Selters (1989); The Mechanics of a Miracle (1992); 23 (1998); Crazy (2001);
Distant Lights (2003); Requiem (2005).


“One of the year’s best films” – Independent on Sunday.

“Devastatingly intense” – The Guardian.

“Heartrending” – Philip French, The Observer.

“A performance deserving of every best actress award going… intensely moving” – Daily Telegraph.

Programme notes by Mansel Stimpson.