Sönke Wortmann: “To be honest, my audience is more important to me than any critic”

A stimulus word is often enough: in the movie “The Nickname,” Thomas Böttcher (Florian David Fitz) invites his clan to a posh ski resort to celebrate his wedding there. The fact that he calls his daughter Paula “Paulchen” immediately sets off an avalanche of conflict. As with “The First Name” (2018) and “The Last Name” (2022), Sönke Wortmann directed the production.

OÖN: Cinema is always confronted with criticism when it comes to sequels and prequels. There is a claim that film should not regurgitate anything. What would you
Tell someone who criticizes your “Names” trilogy because of this?
Sönke Wortmann: I have to honestly say that my audience is more important to me than any critic. But if the trilogy were evaluated that way, including by the audience, I would say: Every film in the trilogy is a further development. And we never tell the same story. “The First Name” was a remake of “Le Prenom” (France, 2012), but after that we started developing it further. We felt like there were still stories in this family that could be told. But yes: there are better and worse sequels. For me, “The Godfather 2” is just as strong as “The Godfather 1”. I can only hope that we don’t drop in quality. From what I’ve heard, that’s not the case either.

You have been a director for 40 years, and art takes a closer look at human nature. Has it completely opened up to you or are new facets emerging?
There are definitely still some like that. But of course I learned. Now, in my old age, I obviously know more about people and myself than I did 40 years ago. But there are still surprises, most of them positive. When it comes to the topic of reconciliation in families, I have been positively surprised by those around me: some conflicts that shouldn’t have arisen were able to be resolved through discussions – even from people I would never have expected.

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