Berlinale interview: ‘What Marielle Knows’ – German comedy, anyone?

German writer-director Frédéric Hambalek surprised everyone this year at the Berlinale with a comedy in Competition that could very well be one of the breakout titles this year.

Was Marielle Weiß (What Marielle Knows) is a sharp, taut and pitch-black comedy that deconstructs the perfect picture of family dynamics. It does so by revolving around a high concept idea: a young girl (Laeni Geiseler) develops telepathic powers after being hit by a girl at school who she called a slut.

Her powers don’t transform her into a pocket-sized Professor X but allow her to see and hear everything her parents do. Whatever they’re doing. Wherever they are.

She soon discovers that the adults in her life (played by Julia Jentsch and Felix Kramer) aren’t as open and honest as they profess to be. Whether it’s starting an affair with a co-worker or shrouding professional failures and reframing them as success stories to avoid weakening an already fragile male ego, she professes to knowing who they are.

Once Marielle tells her parents about her newfound powers, they are convinced they are being manipulated. However, as time passes, they begin to think twice about their own behaviours and the everyday masks they wear. But does that mean that honesty is always the best policy? And isn’t a truth told with bad intent worse than any lie you can invent?

What Marielle Knows is a rare gem of a German comedy – one never overplays its hand, thrives on ambiguity and avoids spelling everything out like many of Hambalek’s filmmaking compatriots tend to do.

We sat down with Frédéric Hambalek to talk about his biting yet tender exploration of parenthood – which stands a good chance of winning a Bear this year. Best Script perhaps? We’re confident…

Euronews Culture: For a film which features the child in its title, we actually don’t get to see all that much of Marielle. Instead, you focus more on the parents…

Frédéric Hambalek: When I started writing the film, I had zero kids. Now, I have two, so it takes long time to make a film! But in writing I leaned more and more towards the parents’ perspective. In further developing it, I think I brought in some fears that were new to me. For example, how will my children see me? Will they like me as a person? These are the questions that can drive you a bit crazy but they became central to the script. Plus, it felt more interesting to leave out Marielle’s perspective and have her be this black box the parents have to decipher.

And there’s that cutting line, the worst thing a parent can hear: “I just noticed that I don’t even like you.”

That’s my own fear of not being liked by my kids. And I know from experiences that have been shared that the bond between children and parents can be broken forever. There are a lot of children who truly hate their parents. I live with this fear.

The film is about parenthood but also about transparency and the true merits of complete honesty…

Now as a parent, I know that you basically create this illusion for your kids, the way you should behave. You shouldn’t eat chocolate in the morning… You should not scream… You should share your things… Don’t lie… And we’re failing at it so hard ourselves. Why are we even doing this illusion? This is what I think is interesting, and I haven’t found a solution how to make it differently – to still educate my children but to also be very honest.

One thing that struck me with the film is how there are these cutaways of Marielle looking at the camera and how some of the camera movements, especially in the house and in the glass offices, seem to mimic the movement of surveillance cameras. This got me thinking of how your film could be read as a commentary on state of surveillance.

Well, we live in these times when we are losing privacy in very subtle ways also. For example, on WhatsApp, you have these check marks. You know when somebody has read a message. When they introduced that, it very suddenly changed my behaviour towards people, and I had to deactivate it because I was growing too paranoid. Regarding the film, you’re right about the camera movements and we chose open spaces that have glass, where people couldn’t hide… Which isn’t hard because it’s the modern world. Everything is open.

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The film opens with a lot of rather graphic dirty talk and there is, considering what’s happening (and shan’t be spoiled), one of the funniest sex scenes I’ve seen in a long while… Can you tell me more about the role of sexuality in the film?

I knew it had to be present, because sexuality is still a very taboo subject in families and communication. What’s interesting to me is wondering: What if it was very open? Would that be so bad? Would all children be completely traumatized? And then there’s the topic of monogamy. In this educated milieu in Germany, you’re not supposed anymore to just think monogamy is the thing. And the wife uses it against her husband – she tells him “you’re not that reactionary” and she gets him with that. But still, you can’t intellectualize away your jealousy and, like sexuality, it can be a very powerful force. To make people uncomfortable, to make people react, and sometimes to make them laugh.

In many ways, it is quite a pessimistic film, but there is hope as well at the end. Was it difficult for you to balance the tone?

Yes, and you know – I haven’t told this to anyone before – but I shot two small variations of the ending. I’m not going to tell you exactly what they were, but I never usually do that. I didn’t really know how would it read or whether I was going too far in one direction. I settled for ambiguity so I could find a balance between my own sense of pessimism and still acknowledging the fact that things can sometimes turn out well in life sometimes.

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There’s this cliché that Germans and humour don’t make good bedfellows – much like the cliché that British are the best at humour when in reality they rely far too much on sarcasm. But the stereotype still persists, and What Marielle Knows dismantles the notion that German comedy isn’t layered or feels a bit like a hit-on collision…

The Brits are good with humour, you have to give them that! But thank you and ideally, a film should be an aesthetic thing that somehow reflects life and what we humans are going through. And we are often so ridiculous. I frequently think to myself during the day: “What have I done here? What was this stupid thing I said?” I always thought my film would be funny, but I was so astounded how people were laughing. I never would have imagined people would laugh so loud!  

A reaction that I’ve heard a lot from people who have seen the film is that it’s primed for a US remake… However, there have been a lot of European comedies that were initially set for remakes, like Toni Erdmann or even Another Round, that never saw the light of day…

Listen, I have to pay the rent! If they hand out a check and I have to do nothing, why not? I would have loved to see a Toni Erdmann remake with Jack Nicholson. For me, it doesn’t take away from the original because they can only fail, in a way. And I would have loved to see Jack Nicholson one more time, because he seems to have retired. But if they want to remake my film… Why not? We’ll see.

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Can you recommend teenagers watch your movie with their parents?

(Laughs) You know, I know someone who has a 13-year-old daughter and she will watch Deadpool & Wolverine with her daughter. And that’s an intensely violent film, right? Well, when she saw my movie, she told me: “I’m not gonna watch this with her!” (Laughs) But people should! Go with your kids. Go with your family. It can be this perfect family movie! Plus, that’s also great for ticket sales!

What Marielle Knows premiers at the 75th Berlin Film Festival in Competition.