Schau mich nicht so an

a film by Uisenma Borchu

I didn’t do any research prior to watching this film in CASYC (calle Tantín 25, Santander) and assumed (wrongly) from the title, “Don’t look at me that way”, that it is shown in its original English language. I was right about the “original language” though. It was screened in German and Mongolian, with Spanish (and German, in Mongolian sequences) subtitles.

This film defies easy categorisation. There is a fair amount of comic scenes, nudity and sex, however it is neither comedy nor erotica but something completely else. The fact that the protagonists, Hedi and Iva, are played by the first-time actors (Borchu and Catrina Stemmer, respectively) makes it feel very spontaneous, at times even documentary-like. At other times, the borders between reality and dream are blurred. When the shocking final scene comes, you are left wondering to which world(s) it belongs. Don’t look at me that way: it’s up to you what way to look at it.

The poem read by Iva’s father (Josef Bierbichler) is nothing else than Brecht’s Erinnerung an die Marie A. (Reminiscence of Marie A.); you may have heard the David Bowie version from Baal.

Bertolt Brecht Erinnerung an die Marie A.

Bertolt Brecht, translated by John Willett Remembering Marie A.

An jenem Tag im blauen Mond September Still unter einem jungen Pflaumenbaum Da hielt ich sie, die stille bleiche Liebe In meinem Arm wie einen holden Traum. Und über uns im schönen Sommerhimmel War eine Wolke, die ich lange sah Sie war sehr weiß und ungeheuer oben Und als ich aufsah, war sie nimmer da. Seit jenem Tag sind viele, viele Monde Geschwommen still hinunter und vorbei Die Pflaumenbäume sind wohl abgehauen Und fragst du mich, was mit der Liebe sei? So sag ich dir: Ich kann mich nicht erinnern. Und doch, gewiß, ich weiß schon, was du meinst Doch ihr Gesicht, das weiß ich wirklich nimmer Ich weiß nur mehr: Ich küsste es dereinst. Und auch den Kuss, ich hätt’ ihn längst vergessen Wenn nicht die Wolke da gewesen wär Die weiß ich noch und werd ich immer wissen Sie war sehr weiß und kam von oben her. Die Pflaumenbäume blühn vielleicht noch immer Und jene Frau hat jetzt vielleicht das siebte Kind Doch jene Wolke blühte nur Minuten Und als ich aufsah, schwand sie schon im Wind.

It was a day in that blue month September Silent beneath a plum tree’s slender shade I held her there, my love so pale and silent As if she were a dream that must not fade. Above us in the shining summer heaven There was a cloud my eyes dwelt long upon It was quite white and very high above us Then I looked up, and found that it had gone. And since that day so many moons, in silence Have swum across the sky and gone below. The plum trees surely have been chopped for firewood And if you ask, how does that love seem now? I must admit: I really can’t remember And yet I know what you are trying to say. But what her face was like I know no longer I only know: I kissed it on that day. As for the kiss, I’d long ago forgot it But for the cloud that floated in the sky. I know that still, and shall for ever know it It was quite white and moved in very high. It may be that the plum trees still are blooming, That woman’s seventh child may now be there And yet that cloud had only bloomed for minutes, When I looked up, it vanished on the air.