Cannes 2023: Margarethe 89 | Interview of Lucas Malbrun (Directors’ Fortnight)
Following the premiere of his powerful short film at the Directors’ Fortnight, Margarethe 89, director Lucas Malbrun told us about the making of this impressive animated artwork.
Leipzig, 1989. Margarethe, a young punk opposed to the East German regime, is detained in a psychiatric hospital. Against this background, director Lucas Malbrun recreated an intimate and impactful slice of life, from a little-known part of the history of Germany. With a strong vision and impressive craftsmanship, Malbrun created Margarethe 89, a 18-minute short film which premiered at the 2023 Directors’ Fortnight. We had the pleasure of chatting with the maker of this spectacular animated artwork.
“While there is a certain naivety in the graphic style, for me it was a way of showing the infantilization of citizens in the former GDR.”
Film Fest Report: Can you comment on the aesthetics and the animation techniques used in the film? Why did you choose them? Is there a connection with childhood?
Lucas Malbrun: The film is made entirely with felt-tip pens, as I thought it would be interesting to use a popular tool that everyone knows. While there is a certain naivety in the graphic style, for me it was a way of showing the infantilization of citizens in the former GDR, and even more so of female psychiatric patients. Klaus, the Stasi officer, is a father figure to Margarethe’s boyfriend Heinrich. Many of the snitches were orphans, indoctrinated by the state from an early age. For example, I wanted us to discover the military parade through Heinrich’s fascinated eyes, to show a very colorful GDR in contrast to what we are used to seeing. This style was born of a combination of influences from outsider art and naive art (Henry Darger, André Bauchant), as well as East German art of the time (Kurt Dornis) and contemporary art (Neo Rauch, Rosa Loy, Tilo Baumgärtel).
Film Fest Report: To what extent is the story innspired by your own personal story? What is your relationship with the GDR?
Lucas Malbrun: As I was born in Munich in 1990, I had no direct connection with the GDR. Nonetheless, I grew up in a newly reunited Germany, where strange revelations about this vanished country were omnipresent. Following the internment of a close relative in a psychiatric hospital, I was particularly shocked by the Stasi’s “Zersetzung” (dissolution) method, which aims to break the mental health of the opponent, even to the point of driving him or her mad. I wanted to show the impact of an insane state on the mental health of its citizens.
“I wanted to tell the story of Gretchen from Goethe’s Faust, from a new angle.”
Film Fest Report: Why did you choose to write about a female character, Margarethe, an internee and arsonist? Does this portrayal reflect the greater repression of women during this period?
Lucas Malbrun: Before chosing the historical context of the former GDR, I wanted to tell the story of Gretchen from Goethe’s Faust, from a new angle. Her character, the victim of Faust’s pact with the devil and sent to the stake, touched me deeply. Margarethe is supposed to be an older, punk version of Gretchen transposed to the GDR. On paper, women had more rights in the GDR than in West Germany, but if they did not play by the rules of popular democracy, the regime’s authoritarianism came down hard on them.
Film Fest Report: Does the toxic relationship between Margarethe and Heinrich have any particular symbolism in this historical and political context?
Lucas Mlbrun: In this context, where the state tries to interfere in the most private spheres of its inhabitants, even in their minds, love relationships are inevitably affected. As in Faust, Heinrich has signed a pact with the incarnation of evil, in this case the Stasi, which leads to Margarethe’s internment. For me, Heinrich is also a victim of a system that manipulates him.
