"Everything is fine" by Eva Trobisch: You can only call it rape

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She did not want to make a themed film, says Eva Trobisch, "no film about a rape". The director Ulrich Köhler, who advised her on her graduation project at the Munich Film University, had prophesied that "Everything is good" would be perceived as such.

He should be right: Trobisch's directorial debut has become the movie of the hour - long gone before the #MeToo debate flared up last fall, yet as timely as possible.

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"Everything is fine" draws the portrait of a young woman who is shaken by an attack on her self-image. "Janne sees herself as a free, self-determined woman," says 35-year-old Trobisch during an interview in her hometown of Berlin. "Socialized as someone who can and should do anything, in contrast to the feminism of the parent generation, she is sometimes more chauvinistic than many men." A figure, according to Trobisch composed of "women of my generation, educated, reasonably middle-class". Which asks: "How can I set boundaries for myself?"

What sounds abstract takes shape through Aenne Schwarz ("Before the Dawn"). In her role, Black not only looks both girlish and boyish at the same time, her playing always oscillates between nonchalance, fragility and extreme coolness. At any time one senses: This woman reluctantly loses sovereignty over her actions.

With all severity against the sacrifice

That's why her insolvency of her own small publishing more than her friend Piet (Andreas Doehler). Distraction brings the expansion of a house, the departure from Munich is imminent. But then it comes to a class reunion, to Janne travels alone, to shake. At the end of a night of dancing with plenty of alcohol, the kind-hearted Martin (Hans Löw) understands all the characters wrong, presses Janne, does not leave her, urges her to sex.

What happens can only be called rape, but the bang stops. No screams, no punches, then Janne brushes his teeth. The next morning we look into her face, feel the inner struggle. The young woman decides with all the harshness that demands it, against her sacrifice, against the apparent weakness.

"All is well"
Germany 2018
Written and directed by Eva Trobisch
Performers: Aenne Schwarz, Andreas Doehler, Hans Loew, Tilo Nest, Lisa Hagemeister
Production: TRIMAFILM GmbH, Starhaus Filmproduktion, University of Film and Television Munich
Rental: NFP
FSK: from 12 years
Length: 93 minutes
Start: 27th September 2018

The event plays them down. In front of her mother, the only person who suggests her. Before the rapist who becomes her colleague a little later and seems to suffer more from the act than she does. What he wants to do for her, he wants to know from her, as regretfully as innocently. "Can you bring me a chocolate bar," Janne replies.

DPA

Eva Trobisch at the Locarno Film Festival

The rape did not put Trobisch in the center of her film: "I denied myself as Janne," she analyzes today. "I said: It's just one aspect of the movie where the character becomes visible." Originally even a completely different material should become their debut film.

The fact that she decided in the end for Janne's story, is a stroke of luck, for the cinema and for the film-makers. At the Munich Film Festival, both Trobisch and her leading actress were awarded the "New German Cinema Prize", followed by the Best Debut Film Award at the Festival in Locarno. Would she still do the movie today? Probably not, says Trobisch. Movies and characters may not be at the service of a debate or agenda for them. "Besides, with the #Metoo look you only look at one bow and lose the other colors."

The rest: suspended

For them, the social system in which persons act was more important than the rape. Not with a statement she wanted to compete, but "explore a field". What sounds like sociological theory, Trobisch realizes in her film very practical: Her sincere interest in the characters and their relationships is always noticeable. Even for the rapist Martin developed the film quiet sympathy - without ever want to apologize for his act.

"Personally, I'm just not interested in evil, narrative, I think it is incredibly boring," says Eva Trobisch: "It is so complete." Anyone who sees their debut, recognizes the director's aversion to any form of unambiguousness. Instead, she wanted to endure contradictory, "with tenderness and love for the characters".

At the moment, they would like to work on two script ideas, one of them particularly appeals to them: a small town in Thuringia, the city palace nicely renovated, the rest removed, plus two families - one from the west, one from the east. "Change of perspective is very urgent."

In the debates over East Germany complex is broken down too fast on simple answers, finds the filmmaker. She herself was born in 1983 in East Berlin. Broken biographies and disillusionment she knows from her own family, at the same time she was born late enough to think reunited.

The gift of empathy and the talent for differentiation currently seem to be in demand in all areas of society. That's why Eva Trobisch could become an important voice in German cinema in the years to come. With "Everything's alright", she gets on in a captivating way.

In the video: The trailer for "Everything is good"

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TRIMAFILM