A couple of years in the past German writer-director Felix Randau (Iceman) received what gave the impression of an fascinating proposal from France: to direct episodes of a miniseries about Felix Kersten, the previous therapeutic massage therapist of Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler.
“Once I received again to Berlin and skim their idea, I actually favored it,” he recollects. “However there was this one particular sentence in it that stated, ‘If Steven Spielberg had recognized about Felix Kersten, he would have shot a movie about Felix Kersten and never about Oskar Schindler.’ I knew that Steven Spielberg struggled for, I don’t know, about 10 years earlier than he began capturing Schindler’s Record, and he’s a sensible man who has a whole lot of help. So I grew to become suspicious and began my very own analysis, going to the archives and studying a whole lot of books and stuff.”
Within the course of, he realized that Kersten’s legacy is far much less clear-cut. “I discovered that the story the French guys needed to shoot was a hero story, a superhero story,” Randau tells THR. “However I felt you merely can not do it.” He quickly began focusing his work vitality elsewhere.
The result’s his new movie, I Is One other (Ich Ist ein Anderer), which world premieres on Friday, Aug. 7 within the Piazza Grande program of the 79th version of the Locarno Movie Pageant in Switzerland. Set in 1952, the movie sees a journalist ambush Kersten and his spouse on a prepare as a result of she has doubts concerning the heroic narrative that he has been presenting about himself — one that may even get him the Nobel Peace Prize. What begins as a traditional interview shortly turns right into a psychological cat-and-mouse sport. Is Kersten a hero or an impostor? Or may he perhaps be each?
“Each story has three sides,” Randau says in a director’s word. “Yours. Mine. And the reality…”
To discover all these advanced themes, I Is One other contains a solid of massive European names, led by Danish star Claes Bang (The Sq., Unhealthy Sisters, Dwelling) as Felix Kersten, Austria’s Valerie Pachner (The Tales, Implausible Beasts: The Secrets and techniques of Dumbledore, 4 Minus Three) as journalist Hedda, fellow Austrian Susanne Wuest (Sound of Falling) as Kersten’s spouse Irmgard, German actor Timocin Ziegler as Hedda’s husband Winfried, and Germany’s Martin Müller as Himmler.
Felix Randau, courtesy of Felix Randau
The movie, whose cinematographer was Sebastian Thaler, was edited by Joana Scrinzi. Beta Cinema is dealing with worldwide gross sales.
For writer-director Randau, I Is One other is way more than a post-war movie — and way more well timed. “In fact, it’s a interval film, however it has lots to do with our current time,” he tells THR. “It’s about reality and the query: what’s reality? These days, there are not any extra elementary agreements about something, so reality has develop into fairly a versatile factor. And that’s very harmful, as all of us can see. So, I Is One other is a film about that.”
Certainly, the themes of reality and picture that the film explores appear tailored for the social media age. “If Felix Kersten was alive at the moment, he can be deep into all this social media shit, I’m fairly certain,” Randau acknowledges.
However he highlights the ambiguities and shades of grey that he sees in Kersten that the writer-director needed to additionally showcase in I Is One other. “He was a narcissist. He was an opportunist,” says Randau. “However I feel he additionally was a hero someway as a result of he saved some lives. Not 1000’s, as he stated, however he saved some lives. And I feel he saved lives not for good causes. He needed to avoid wasting his personal ass, I feel.”
The place within the movie’s information flip to fiction doesn’t actually matter a lot, in line with the filmmaker, as a result of a lot of how individuals really feel about Kersten relies on whether or not they deal with his autobiography or information and tales informed by others. “All of the scenes with Himmler and Kersten are from Kersten’s autobiography,” Randau explains. “So they’re, I feel, all pretend, however it’s his reality. All the opposite stuff, the journalist and the prepare journey and stuff like that, is invented. It’s fiction. However someway it’s additionally true.”
Director Felix Randau and stars Claes Bang and Valerie Pachner through the shoot for ‘I Is One other,’ courtesy of Anke Neugebauer/ostlicht/Wega
In fact, to convey the story of Kersten and the themes that I Is One other explores to life, Randau wanted a robust solid. “I’m actually pleased with our casting,” he tells THR. “All of them have been nice and added a lot.”
Randau reached out to Bang first to solid him as Kersten. The Danish star had by no means heard concerning the therapeutic massage therapist. “I didn’t find out about any of this till Felix introduced it to me, and it’s fairly fascinating as a result of it appears to be a narrative that everyone’s fairly fascinated by once you retell it,” the star tells THR in a Zoom chat throughout a break from filming the Netflix collection Murderer’s Creed. “It’s a narrative that’s actually gone below the radar, even when it’s a fairly loopy one.”
The workforce might have spent fairly a number of years getting the financing for the film collectively, however the actor remained up for it all through. “Ever since he introduced it to me, I’ve been actually into it and actually needed to do it,” Bang recollects. “I actually felt strongly about this. So I stayed with it, and we managed to make it final summer season. We needed to do it fairly quick as a result of there wasn’t a large finances. I feel we had 24 capturing days altogether, which is a stretch for one thing like this. All people actually put in a large effort. All people was so dedicated to it, and that’s one thing that I’ll carry with me.”
How did he take into consideration Kersten and what was key for portraying the character? “It’s actually onerous to search out out what is definitely the reality right here,” Bang observes. “However what’s fascinating is that if this man hadn’t been so preoccupied together with his legacy, then we’d have had no story to inform. It’s solely as a result of plainly after the conflict, he was not fairly content material with the credit score he was given for what he had carried out, and subsequently he began maybe exaggerating.”
For the Danish star, Kersten’s story is concerning the human want for validation: “In the end, Kersten needs the Nobel Peace Prize as a result of that may validate him. That complete factor of not with the ability to simply belief your self and understanding that you’ve got carried out your bit appears bizarre and wild.”
Claes Bang as Felix Kersten and Martin Müller as Heinrich Himmler in ‘I Is One other,’ courtesy of Anke Neugebauer/ostlicht/Wega
Courtesy of Anke Neugebauer/Ostlicht Filmproduktion/Wega Filmproduktion
The truth that a distinguished world chief has been desperately hoping (some would possibly say whining) for a Nobel Peace Prize is just not misplaced on Bang. “Clearly, we’ve Trump in the mean time who’s looking for the very same validation. I imply, he additionally so desperately needs the Nobel Peace Prize. I do know that the parallel is an excessive amount of. However truly it’s extra about … when can we simply belief ourselves and know in our hearts ‘I’ve carried out my bit.’ Why can’t we simply discover our inside peace?”
Provides Bang: “What intrigued me, and that’s most likely additionally one thing that I can actually relate to and acknowledge in myself as a result of I actually fairly often surprise, ‘Why do I would like that bloody validation from in all places else? Why do I would like the opinions to say that I’m nice? Why do I would like individuals to come back as much as me and say, Wow, that was a fantastic film.’ Why isn’t it simply sufficient for me simply to be no matter I’m?”
In case you surprise: Bang and his director on I Is One other weren’t in any respect involved with him attempting to appear to be the real-life Kersten, which he doesn’t — in any respect. “That’s not the story we’re attempting to inform right here. We’re attempting to inform a narrative of the journey of a soul,” the star emphasizes. “This isn’t the wax museum of Madame Tussauds. In order that was by no means necessary.”
Pachner was sport for the position of the journalist instantly. “I beloved the title, and the movie’s themes have been one thing I felt I may actually join with,” she tells THR. “It’s this concept of what you inform your self and others about your self, and the way that may be very removed from the reality. And what’s the reality? Felix Randau additionally performs with our personal concept of what’s true and proper. And there’s this autobiography that Felix Kersten wrote and the way individuals took it as reality simply because he wrote it. So, sure, the movie is ready after the Second World Warfare, however with discuss pretend information, it additionally feels very fashionable.”
Valerie Pachner as journalist Hedda and Claes Bang as Felix Kersten in ‘I Is One other’
Courtesy of Anke Neugebauer/Ostlicht Filmproduktion/Wega Filmproduktion
She provides that the character of Hedda is extra advanced than she might seem. “I used to be actually blissful to discover that as a result of it felt so wealthy,” says Pachner. “It’s not this younger journalist who’s simply this good woman who needs to get to the unhealthy man. She has her personal very twisted and darkish story. I’m so blissful once I get to play a lady the place not everybody says, ‘Oh, she’s so good.’”
In truth, Pachner loved teasing that her character isn’t certain who she is or needs to challenge to be both, very very like Kersten. “As Hedda, I didn’t know who I used to be,” she shares. “Is me one other? Who’s I? Or perhaps I simply need to be completely different. And I feel she actually needs to be. That wrestle tells us that perhaps she and Kersten are usually not that completely different.”
Pachner had by no means met any of the opposite solid members, however she felt a pure chemistry with them as soon as capturing received underway. “All of us loved doing the scenes with the 4 of us, the 2 {couples},” she says. “It simply flowed. These bizarre relationships have been sort of there, and there was such a wealthy historical past behind Hedda’s relationship along with her husband. The Kerstens play these bizarre thoughts video games with the youthful individuals. I loved working with all of them a lot. They’re all actually, actually nice actors.”
Wuest was additionally fascinated by the themes explored by the movie, and couldn’t assist however discover parallels to our present second. “I really feel that the timing of the movie is so spot on for therefore many causes,” she says. “Initially, it’s all concerning the picture you create of your self, and the way manipulative that’s. It’s like on social media the place it’s not solely concerning the ego; it’s about promoting one thing on a regular basis. And the movie is concerning the questions of who will we need to be and the way will we need to be perceived from the surface. That has develop into extra necessary than making a group, which I feel could be very poisonous. I feel it’s a useless finish.”
Director Felix Randau and stars Claes Bang and Valerie Pachner through the shoot for ‘I Is One other,’ courtesy of Anke Neugebauer/ostlicht/Wega
She provides that the film additionally ties in with a troubling political pattern that’s been on the rise all through the world: “The second factor is the rise of all of the right-wing radical politicians and ideologies once more, which I feel go hand-in-hand with this me, me, me tradition. The movie tells a narrative about that and perspective. You’ve gotten not less than three, if not 4 or 5, completely different views. You’ve gotten the attitude of Felix Kersten. You’ve gotten the attitude of the journalist who’s attempting to get to him. You’ve gotten the attitude of his spouse. You’ve gotten the attitude of the poor journalist’s husband. After which you may have the attitude of the viewers who additionally has a tackle it. Plus, then you may have the attitude of the one who tells the story, which is the director. So there are a whole lot of layers.”
Wuest concludes that I Is One other is way more well timed than audiences might at first count on: “We reside in very unusual instances, and I feel the movie covers and mirrors that.”
As talked about earlier than, the Kerstens of I Is One other look nothing just like the real-life couple, and Wuest lauds director Randau for “permitting completely different concepts to occur.” Comparable to after they have been attempting out completely different appears to be like for Irmgard.
Says Wuest: “I used to be placing on make-up, and we have been discussing what she may appear to be. I believed her prime was within the Thirties, perhaps within the Forties even. And other people have a tendency to not change hairstyles each decade. We hold the hairstyles we develop up with. And since this story is being informed by Felix Karsten, we get to see his reminiscence and his concept of every part. So, Felix Karsten and his spouse don’t see one another the way in which they actually look, however extra like this Hollywood couple. I actually love that the movie twists this stuff and concepts.”
