Coming Out (1989/I)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Heiner Carow

Writer:

Wolfram Witt (writer)

Release Date:

10 November 1989 (East Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Reportedly the first film to come out of East Germany to deal openly with gay issues. Philipp, a closeted...

Plot Keywords:

Gay | Love | Teacher | Gay Bar | Closeted Homosexual

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Matthias Freihof	...	Philipp
Dagmar Manzel	...	Tanja
Dirk Kummer	...	Matthias
Michael Gwisdek	...	Achim
Werner Dissel	...	älterer Herr
Gudrun Ritter	...	Frau Moellemann
Walfriede Schmitt	...	Philipp's mother
Axel Wandtke	...	Jakob
Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss	...	Araber (as Pierre Bliss)
René Schmidt
Thomas Gumpert
Ursula Staack
Robert Hummel	...	Lutz
Horst Ziethen
Gertraud Kreissig

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

East Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bebelplatz, Staatsoper, Mitte, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Deutsche Film (DEFA)

Trivia:

Premiered in East-Berlin on 9 November 1989. When the news broke that the border between East and West had been opened, the film was stopped and the audience was informed about the event taking place outside the cinema. The vast majority of the audience demanded to see the rest of the film before joining the masses outside.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Schau mir in die Augen, Kleiner (2007)

From a totally different angle

This movie is a wonderful story and an artifact both cultural and historical. It takes us across the Berlin Wall in the last year of the German Democratic Republic. In the background we hear avant garde electronic music, and when the characters go to the theatre, we see a modern fanciful production. It is a reminder of German modernism in the arts, something that one rarely sees on the screen.

The students in Phillip's (the protagonist's) high school class write their essays about a quote from Bertolt Brecht. This quote, about a common man in his own community, goes a long way to explaining the apparent lack of an ending. I confess that I found the ending a bit odd until I watched the movie a second time. The protagonist is not going to live a Hollywood 'happy ending'. He is going to live in the back streets that are gay East Berlin. He will not have the easy life he adopts at the beginning of the movie, and he is going to continue being a high school teacher. Phillip is not going to allow the East German state, his profession, his family or his girl friend to supress his own self. He is living on a tight wire, but he is an ordinary citizen of a socialist state.

The non-capitalist industrial society that serves as the backdrop for this coming of age story is no more. It is refreshing to see a movie without product placements and the crass commercialism. Coming Out is a flash back to a society where gays were repressed but lived out their lives in spite of society. If you think Bush's America is repressive, imagine living in a police state like East Germany with the Berlin wall. This fact gives Phillip's coming out such significance. His dilemma makes modern American gay life seem comparatively carefree. We take so much for granted.

The director is obviously accomplished. The budget is adequate so we are spared the technical problems of gay cinema on a shoe string. The acting and dialog are convincing . The German is exceptionally crisp and clear, allowing someone with a first year college course in German to catch subtleties that are not captioned. The cinematography is good and moves the plot forward.

This film was erotic without being pornographic. It was far more realistic than Maurice for example. It touched me in a way that coming out films rarely do. It reminded me of the first time I went to a gay bar in a small city, all quite self-conscious and anxious and awed. More importantly, it reminded me of what I wanted to find there.