The Dreamed Ones (2016) Die Geträumten

Director: Ruth Beckermann
Writers: Ingeborg Bachmann (letters), Paul Celan (letters)
Stars: Anja Plaschg, Laurence Rupp

The themes of love and hate are depicted in the movie. At center stage are the two poets Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, who came to know each other in post‐war Vienna. Their vivid postal exchange creates the textual basis of the film.

The dramatic, ecstatic, but also infinitely sad love story between Bachmann and Celan begins in 1948 when she is 22 and he is 27. It ends with the suicide of Celan in Paris in 1971. For Bachmann, he is the love of her life, however she never stops seeing him as a stranger and even harbours slight fears towards him. He was a Jew from Czernowitz, whose parents perished in the Holocaust while she came from a milieu of National Socialism. Growing up in Carinthia, Bachmann witnessed little of the war and persecution. Love and friendship, but also doubts and disruptions permeate their lifelong relationship and in a moment of doubt Bachmann asks: “Are we only the dreamed ones?”.

Two young actors, Anja Plaschg and Laurence Rupp, meet in a recording studio to read the letters. The tumultuous emotions of proximity and distance, fascination and fear captivate them. However they also enjoy each other’s company, arguing, smoking, discussing their tattoos and favourite music. Yesterday’s love, today’s love and tomorrow’s: where the lines are blurred lies the heart of the film.

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