THE DREAMED ONES

The themes of love and hate are depicted in the movie DIE GETRÄUMTEN (The Dreamed Ones). At center stage are the two poets Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, who came to know each other in post-war Vienna. Their dramatic postal exchange creates the textual basis of the film. Two young actors meet in a recording studio to read the letters. The tumultuous emotions of proximity and distance, fascination and fear captivate them. However they also enjoy each otherʼs company, arguing, smoking, discussing their tattoos and favourite music. Yesterdays love, todays love and tomorrows: where the lines are blurred lies the heart of the film.

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Every coin has two sides. The media tells us that we live in a time of isolation as the Internet becomes the supermarket of love. Simultaneously there is an increase in people’s needs for confrontation with authentic experiences and feelings. Therefore the classic love stories have not lost any of their relevance. Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan are representative of such a great modern love story. On one hand their love is unique, while on the other it is a paradigm for the possibility and impossibility of finding love after the disaster of war and destruction. The most important German poets of the second half of the 20th century struggle to find answers to the questions that I have often asked myself: What does love mean in our postmodern age? How many generations will suffer from the destruction of empathy and trust through Nazi ideology? Are art and life compatible?

Ruth Beckermann