Berlin (AFP)

Love under algorithms or denunciation of gentrification: far from dark intrigues steeped in history, two comedies presented at the Berlinale embody a German cinema that lives with the times.

With five films in the running - out of the fifteen in the main competition - the homeland of Fritz Lang and Wim Wenders had rarely been so honored in this festival where its last award dates back to "Head-On" by director Fatih Akin, Golden Bear of the Berlinale 2004.

The selection presents in particular a documentary devoted to the delicate integration of young pupils of foreign origin ("Mr Bachmann and His Class"), the adaptation of a learning novel in Berlin of the 1920s ("Fabian-Going to the Dogs ") and a love story tinged with poetry (" What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? ").

In addition, there are two comedies that strike with the lightness of the narration, around contemporary and universal subjects.

In "I'm your man", director Maria Schrader, revealed by the worldwide success of the hit series "Unorthodox", airing on Netflix, portrays the algorithmic love between a human-looking robot (played by Dan Stevens, "Downton Abbey", "Beauty and the Beast") and a hardened single researcher (Maren Eggert, "Marseille").

The android, helped by his artificial intelligence, is supposed to adapt to the tastes and desires of his partner and thus become his ideal companion.

Except that the irrationality of humans sometimes makes social relations difficult to understand for a machine.

- Berlin for decor -

"I was drawn to the simplicity of the staging," Maria Schrader told reporters, whose previous opus dealt with more dramatic subjects.

The adaptation of the story "Unorthodox", about the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, earned him a prestigious Emmy Award in 2020.

"It's as if a boy meets a girl. But in fact, it's a girl who meets a boy and it's a robot boy", summarizes the 55-year-old actress, ironed behind the camera for this third feature -metering.

Filmed in Berlin last summer, the German capital appears there as the place of all possibilities.

Another film, same setting: in "Next Door", Berlin is the main subject of a sarcastic comedy describing the galloping gentrification of the city.

This results in tensions between long-time residents and newcomers attracted to a dynamic and inexpensive metropolis.

For his first feature film, actor Daniel Brühl ("Merry Christmas", "Vengeance in the Skin", "Rush") stages himself in a kind of autobiography in which a neo-Berliner living in a bohemian neighborhood is confronted with its contradictions and through.

"I'm a vain and narcissistic man, but I'm not as horrible as the guy we see in the film," defends the 42-year-old director in an interview with AFP.

He claims the inspiration of the cinema of the Coen brothers and their often lonely antiheroes.

- Successful series -

These films are proof of a revival of German cinema, lighter and embracing various genres such as science fiction, thrillers or romantic comedies, believes film critic Scott Roxborough of the Hollywood Reporter.

"Toni Erdmann", film by German Maren Ade awarded the Critics' Prize in 2016 at the Cannes Film Festival, was already digging into the vein of grating humor.

"These are no longer long shots featuring emotional void or people discussing philosophy," said the critic, alluding to the stereotypes of Germanic cinema.

"It's a new generation of German directors who are coming and are ready to do things a little differently, in an exciting way and not just politically correct," he adds.

Can these festival films also achieve popular success, like the recent successes of several Germanic series?

"Babylon Berlin", "Dark", "Berlin 56", "Deutschland 83/86/89", "Dogs of Berlin" or "Unorthodox" recently put Germany back on the top of the bill.

In the cinema, his last great successes still plunged into the history of the country: the Cold War and his legacy for "La Vie des autres" (2006) or "Good Bye, Lenin!"

(2003) which also revealed the actor ... Daniel Brühl.

© 2021 AFP