Review of Ingeborg Bachmann - Journey Into the Desert

First of all this was an interesting film and I certainly don't regret having seen it. It's a serious psychological film. People who have an interest in Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch of course have an advantage watching this. It's some kind of relationship study. Obviously the relationship is between two special persons (giants of literature), and the interaction between the relationship and the artistic production of the characters is an issue here. There is much food for thought, also regarding the changing roles of men and women, what people expect from love and relationships, how they deal with separation, and so on. Ronald Zehrfeld as Max Frisch is very convincing. I have more problems with Vicky Krieps as Ingeborg Bachmann. Her looks and gestures are fine (actually visual similarity to the real Bachmann and Frisch may have played a role casting these actors, though Krieps is maybe a bit too beautiful even when emotionally shattered), but I can't get rid of the impression "21st century actress" rather than "20th century poet" when she talks. Also in most (though not all) scenes after the separation, Krieps comes over as more positive and ebullient than I'd think Bachmann was at that time, according to what I know from Wikipedia and other sources. What is shown of the relationship between Bachmann and Frisch doesn't really make clear to me what tied them to each other apart from the initial attraction (but this happens often in films; it may be my personal issue actually); particularly of Frisch we see little that makes him a sympathetic character. But then maybe he just was like this. I regularly have the problem with fictional films about real events that it isn't clear, regarding many details, to what extent these are "true" to reality at least in some sense, and how legitimate it is to deviate. Anything that doesn't seem realistic can be justified by a sensible connection to the real events/characters, but as spectator I don't always know enough to assess this.

I have my issues with this one, but as said above, it was a worthwhile experience anyway.