TRIBUTES AND RETROSPECTIVES

Christian Petzold

Pilotinnen

Christian Petzold
1995 - Germany - 1h12

Screenings : tuesday 23 - 4:45 pm - 400 Coups - 5 thursday 25 - 11:00 am - 400 Coups - 5

Karin is a sales rep for a cosmetics company who one day has to take to the road with Sophie, the new boss's girlfriend. The two women behave as rivals before joining forces in a flight to freedom.

Christian Petzold's first feature, and also his graduation film, broadcast on German television, Pilotinnen (Pilots) lays down the foundations of his future films. In a bleak and ultra-liberal contemporary world, Petzold rekindles traces of the film noir as a means of escape. He was inspired by his own mother, who was a sales rep like one of the characters in the film and who dreamed of something else. It is noteworthy that a mention is made of the death of Frank Sinatra, symbolising the death of a certain age and a certain imaginary world. It is not surprising, either, that a bank heist is reminiscent of Gun Crazy, a model of the American B-movie by Joseph H. Lewis.

CAST AND CREW

Cast : Eleonore Weisgerber, Nadeshda Brennicke, Udo Schenk, Barbara Frey, Michael Tietz
Screenplay : Christian Petzold
Cinematography : Hans Fromm
Sound : Heino Herrenbrück
Editing : Monika Kappl-Smith

Production : Schramm Film

French distributor : Deutsche Kinemathek