New in the cinema: “The Midday Woman” by Barbar Albert

Julia Franck’s novel “The Midday Woman” is an important document about German history in the first half of the 20th century. The Viennese director Barbara Albert (“Light”) has now filmed the fictional biography of Helene Würsich. At the center of “Mittagsfrau” is Helene (Mala Emde), the young woman from the German provinces who is initially called “Engelchen”. She and her sister Martha (Liliane Amuat) grow up with their mentally disturbed mother, who is incapable of empathy. The First World War is over, the die is cast.

But for the intelligent Helene, who wants to become a doctor, the world still seems to be open. With Martha she flees to her aunt in the vibrant metropolis of Berlin and enjoys the golden 20s. The shy country mouse becomes a flamboyant city plant and falls in love with the sensitive literature student Karl (the South Tyrolean shooting star Thomas Prenn). But Karl dies and the Nazi era casts its first shadows ahead.

Timeskip. Helene’s dream of becoming a doctor has given way to working as a nurse. The necessary “Aryan proof” hovers like the sword of Damocles over those descended from a Jewish mother. Then she meets the soldier Wilhelm (Max von der Groeben) in the hospital. Although he sympathized with the Nazis, he got her false papers. Helene marries him, even if she doesn’t return his feelings. She finally changes her identity. The life-hungry, intellectual Helene becomes the housewife Alice. However, Helene/Alice continues to be strong when Wilhelm leaves her and the baby.

Albert focuses the novel, which expands into several characters, entirely on Helene. It becomes a metaphor for German society in the first half of the 20th century. You are lost and forgotten. The filmmaker, who also co-wrote the screenplay, deserves credit for not using a simple black-and-white drawing. The characters are portrayed in their ambivalences and their complexity. On this basis, “The Midday Woman” goes beyond the pure parable and also takes on a human level for its protagonists. (APA)

“The Lunch Woman”: 142 mins,
R.: Barbara Albert, now in the cinema, Rating: Five out of six stars