The Italian Piero Messina, who directed Juliette Binoche in the drama The Wait (2015), is now seeking the Golden Bear at the Berlinale with his second feature film, Another End, immersing himself in science fiction to talk about a story that raises the possibility in a dystopian future of being able to say goodbye for the last time to our deceased loved ones. The alternative is provided by a technology company that transmits the memories of the deceased in the body of another person. The sessions are regulated and it is only carried out as therapy for those who are mired in desolation.
This is the case of Sal, played by Gael García Bernal, unable to accept the death of his girlfriend in a car accident. Her sister, a role assumed by Bérénice Bejo, provides her with some peace in her job as a recorder of those memories with Another end technology, which allows her to communicate with Zoe thanks to the borrowed body of a hostess (Renate Reinsve) that she takes over for a while. short period of time of the consciousness of the deceased. But Sal discovers that the fleeting time with one version of her is not enough and she will soon have to face new challenges.
In an appearance before the press, Messina maintained that his goal was to create a narrative that contained “coherent elements” interwoven with “strange elements.” And he claimed that he wasn’t trying to direct a film that was “accurate” in its sci-fi narrative construction but rather in its “feel.” García Bernal defined the film as “deep and extremely romantic”, while “raising very important philosophical questions in a time of immediate answers.”
The popular Mexican actor, who expressed his joy at working with “wonderful” actresses like Reinsve and Bejo, reflected on the division between body and soul and the opportunities that new technologies open: “In Western culture we think that the body is not the person, who is, so to speak, a disposable vessel, but the film challenges this idea in a very sensorial and instinctive way. And he made it clear that, in real life, he would never make the decision to bring back the personality of a loved one in another body.
An opinion that is absolutely shared by actress Olivia Williams, who plays a woman who has also lost her family and hires the services of the pioneering company. “With all due respect to our director and screenwriter, I think it’s a terrible idea to bring people back.” “The pain obviously increases unless you meet Renate, who would fall in love with you, but in every other way, it seems like a terrible idea.”
Another drama, although this time much harsher and based on real events, arrived on this third and cold day of the festival from the German Andreas Dresen with From Hilde, with love, which addresses the story of the anti-Nazi resistance fighter Hilde Coppi, executed in 1943 for her subversive activities. During the summer of 1942 in Berlin, she and Hans form a young couple who become members of an anti-Nazi group known as The Red Orchestra. Until one day they are caught by the Gestapo and Hilde is imprisoned, eight months pregnant.
The film moved many of the journalists who were at the morning screening. Dresen explained that he was attracted to the “humanity” of the story and the character of Hilde Coppi, “a decent and brave woman.” And he pointed out that a regime like the Nazi is based on “millions of small opportunisms,” so he wanted the story to allow viewers to see themselves reflected in both the characters who resist and those who are part of the system, and ask themselves ” “Where would I be?” For her part, screenwriter Laila Stieler defined Coppi as “a very sensitive woman, perhaps too sensitive. She carried out these heroic acts, but they became natural to her because of her decency.”
During the press conference it was inevitable not to address the controversy of the veto of the far-right AfD party at the festival. Dresen made it clear that he does not support the AfD, but settled: “The debate is getting boring. The Berlinale has always been a political festival, but we don’t want to turn it into a politics festival, but into a film festival.”
