Sönke Wortmann: Germany’s favourite director turns 65

The importance of Sönke Wortmann (65) in the German cultural landscape can already be seen from the fact that Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (68) sent him personal greetings on his 65th birthday. He truthfully attested that he is one of the greatest directors in Germany and that his work has significantly enriched the country’s cultural reputation.

In his tribute to the filmmaker, the Federal President writes: “With your sure sense for images and image compositions of all kinds, you find a language for so much of what is virulent in our society. Your works allow us, the audience, to plunge into the fullness of life with all its comedy, its depths, contradictions and longings.”

In fact, Wortmann’s cinematic works are characterized by the fact that, even in the most light-hearted relationship comedy, they illuminate “virulent” social phenomena, always keep an eye on current discourses and thus show what holds the country together – or also drives it apart.

Breakthrough with “Alone Among Women”

This is already true of his comedy “Alone Among Women”, with which he celebrated his big breakthrough in 1991. The film is about a diehard macho who is forced to live in a feminist women’s shared flat and becomes a kind of guinea pig for a social experiment. The initial question: How can you turn such a macho into an emancipated man who behaves in a contemporary and respectful way towards the female sex?

Especially in the comedies of recent years, it becomes clear how much Wortmann, as a director and producer, is inspired by current social issues. This is especially true of his chamber play-like films such as “Frau Müller muss weg!” (2015), “Contra” (2021) or “Eingeschlossene Gesellschaft” (2022), in which he illuminates the German education system and its protagonists in a humorous and often profound way or illustrates the decay of the culture of discussion. In “Der Vorname” (2018), a dinner of well-off citizens gets completely out of hand when one of the participants jokingly declares that he wants to name his son Adolf.

Sport as a means of transporting great stories

One of the special features of Sönke Wortmann’s film work is that he repeatedly uses sporting myths to tell the story of what holds the nation together deep down. His best-known films include “The Miracle of Bern” (2003), in which he revived the sensational victory of the German national football team at the 1954 World Cup, and the documentary “Germany. A Summer’s Tale” (2006), for which he filmed the national team before and during the 2006 World Cup held in Germany.

For Wortmann, who as a young man played football for a while with professional ambitions for the Ruhrpott club SpVgg Erkenschwick, it doesn’t always have to be football. As a producer, he was also responsible for the basketball drama “Hangtime – Kein leichtes Spiel” in 2009.

The director said of his penchant for sporting storylines: “Sport is one of many ways to tell stories. I think it’s a very exciting one. Sport always provides parallels to life. There are hierarchies, tears, joy and passion. And you have to work together, especially in team sports. You learn a lot of social aspects for life in sport, which is why I encourage my children to do the same.”

Is the first Wortmann crime novel coming soon?

However, as he said in 2022, we won’t see any more football films from him in the future. “I can rule out the football field, I’ve already spoken extensively about this topic in my films,” he explained there. Instead, he’s considering making a crime thriller for a change. “Why not?” said Wortmann. “I’m always open to new things, and I haven’t done any crime films yet.”