Fatherland centres on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) – actress, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick taking them across a Germany in ruins – from US dominated Frankfurt to Soviet controlled Weimar. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep fracture within his own family.
With Fatherland, Pawlikowski picks up where he left off with his award-winning Ida and Cold War, exploring – in his elliptic, distilled style – the themes of identity, family, love and guilt amid the turmoil and confusion of post-war Europe.
The Film Verdict – “Reliably magnetic as usual, Hüller’s poised, precisely calibrated performance is the main emotional engine here: composed and urbane on the surface, nervy and spiky beneath. It’s a masterclass in expressive minimalism.” (full review here)
Sarah Manvel – “Fatherland is so thoughtfully and carefully made it’s somehow easy to take for granted, which would be a big mistake. The ways in which art and politics mirror each other have rarely been so carefully and thoughtfully examined.” (full review here)
Scene Now – “There is something profoundly moving about seeing figures who have long existed in literary memory rendered with such intimacy and fragility. In his hands, these characters are stripped of their grandiosity and become painfully human.” (full review here)
