With dad in the fatherland

Confused family. In reality, Thomas Mann did not travel to Germany in 1949 with his daughter Erika, as in “Fatherland,” but with his wife Katia

The critics were enthusiastic about Paweł Pawlikowski's "Fatherland" at the last Cannes Film Festival - no wonder, because the largely fictional historical film about a journey together by the writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika through divided Germany after the end of the Second World War seems as if it was made especially for them. Nothing screams “aesthetic appeal!” like black and white film and 4:3 format. And in fact, the carefully composed images of a broken Germany, in which faces typical of the time are depicted with great care, are quite successful. In terms of narrative, the film also has a whole series of strong moments. What the critics didn't notice, however, is that "Fatherland" also groans under its laborious construction.

The first face belongs to the actor August Diehl and is intended to represent that of Klaus Mann, Thomas' son, who also writes. It works so poorly, Diehl lacks the subtlety of Klaus Mann's features and his text seems learned by heart. He speaks resignedly into a telephone receiver in his hotel room in Cannes and ponders the insignificance of East and West, "Stalin or Mickey Mouse." A young lover lies in his bed, who finally silently gets dressed in the background to leave the room. It remains the only reference to Klaus Mann's unusually open homosexuality for his time, although it may have been of central importance for his relationship with his father, whose ambivalent attitude towards homosexuality and desire unmistakably found its way into his work.

Hanns Zischler plays Thomas Mann vividly as someone torn between countries and roles and between his control and his feelings.

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