Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde

A film byn Dominik Graf. . 

[Credits] [Termine] [Trailer]

Berlin, 1931. A milieu bet­ween sub­lets and the under­world, whe­re brot­hels are artists’ stu­di­os, Nazis are yel­ling abu­se in the streets and Babelsberg is dre­a­ming of pro­du­cing “psy­cho­lo­gi­cal cine­ma”. Life is sur­ging, socie­ty is fer­men­ting and cor­ro­ding. As long as he still has a job, Jakob Fabian, who has a doc­to­ra­te in German stu­dies, wri­tes adver­ti­sing copy during the day and fre­quents the city’s more out­lan­dish estab­lish­ments with Stephan Labude at night. While his fri­end – who later con­fes­ses to having fai­led “in the sub­jects of life and pro­fes­si­on” – is a go-get­ter when it comes to com­mu­nism and sex, Fabian remains sober and distant. Without real­ly belie­ving in it, he is wai­ting for the “vic­to­ry of decen­cy”. His love for Cornelia is the only thing that makes him ques­ti­on his iro­nic fata­lism. She beco­mes a ray of hope in his crumbling exis­tence.
Despite all the par­al­lels with today’s mali­gned world, brin­ging Erich Kästner’s deep­ly sad, auto­bio­gra­phi­cal “Fabian” – one of the most important novels of the Weimar Republic – out of the shadows is a chall­enge. Dominik Graf mas­ters it bril­li­ant­ly. His style is fine­ly poin­ted, cold-bloo­dedly brisk and yet quiet­ly melan­cho­lic. A film like a slow­ly tur­ning dis­co ball, about the con­nec­tions bet­ween sexu­al inter­cour­se and an emp­ty fri­dge – and the dis­in­te­gra­ti­on of the dream of happiness.

Credits:

DE 2021, 176 Min.,
Regie: Dominik Graf
Kamera: Hanno Lentz
Schnitt: Claudia Wolscht
mit Tom Schilling, Saskia Rosendahl, Albrecht Schuch, Meret Becker, Michael Wittenborn


Trailer:
FABIAN | TRAILER | jetzt fürs Heimkino
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