After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many things in the former GDR were cheap for Western investors. But what did that do to the people there? That’s what the drama “The Girl with the Golden Hands” with Corinna Harfouch is about.
Munich – At the end of 1999 in a provincial town near Berlin: Gudrun is 60 and everything at her party should be perfect, the decoration, the food and the speeches. She wants to celebrate in the former children’s home where she grew up.
A place full of memories, of childhood and youth in the former GDR. The shock is all the greater when she learns that the municipality wants to sell the dilapidated ensemble to a hotel investor. Gudrun takes up the fight and alienates her friends, her husband and especially her daughter Lara with her stubbornness and harshness. “The Girl with the Golden Hands” is the directorial debut of actress Katharina Marie Schubert, with Corinna Harfouch in the leading role of the East-West drama.
For Harfouch, it’s a part she’s played before: a woman who masterfully conceals her hurts and feelings under discipline, coolness, and detachment. She excelled in Jan-Ole Gerster’s drama “Lara”, for example, where she fought as an overambitious mother for the love of her estranged, adult son.
But where “Lara” inspired with sensitivity and empathy, “The girl with the golden hands” leaves one strangely untouched for long stretches. It’s a shame, because the actors are worth seeing, such as Birte Schnöink (“Altes Land”), who, with her sensitive acting, gives her daughter vulnerability and strength at the same time. Harfouch also confidently plays the stubborn Gudrun, who fears that the conversion of the children’s home into a hotel will not only destroy memories. She is firmly convinced that a large part of her East German identity will be lost as a result. Wessis who appropriate East Germany in a cocky and arrogant way – that’s how it feels for Gudrun.
It is precisely this identity that director Schubert evokes, for example when the guests at Gudrun’s party happily sing “Das Bummi Bär Lied” or dance to old GDR hits. A nice feeling for many of the actors, since they themselves grew up in the GDR, such as Jörg Schüttauf, Ulrike Krumbiegel or Peter René Lüdicke. “We danced a lot that night and sang the old songs without the camera rolling,” Harfouch recalls. She grew up in Saxony. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, she felt alienated from the West. “There was a better or at least victorious system,” and that was initially put over everything. “Everything else should disappear, although it was lived by many.”
This arrogant capitalism, the sell-out of their homeland ignites Gudrun’s resistance. A topic whose emotions the film cannot convey. For example, when it comes to Gudrun’s deep connection to the children’s home. These strong feelings can only be guessed at, but not felt, and therefore can only be understood rationally. And so much of the story remains nebulous.
The girl with the golden hands, Germany 2021, 107 min., FSK from 12, by Katharina Marie Schubert, with Corinna Harfouch, Birte Schnöink and Jörg Schüttauf dpa
