''Brecht'' is a 2019 TV

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

film, dealing with the life and work of the German playwright

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. A co-production between Bavaria Fiction in Germany,

Satel Film Satel Film is an Austrian TV and film production and distribution company, founded in 1971 and based in Vienna. Its documentaries, TV series and shorts include '' Kottan ermittelt'', '' Schlosshotel Orth'', the biopics ''Andreas Hofer – Die F ...

in Austria and MIA Film in the Czech Republic, principal photography occurred in and around

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

from 30 May to 28 July 2017. Formed of two 90-minute parts, it was scripted and directed by

Heinrich Breloer Heinrich Breloer (, born 17 February 1942 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German author and film director. He has mainly worked on docudramas related to modern German history and has received many awards. Breloer's 2005 docudrama ''Speer und Er'' was descr ...

, with

Tom Schilling Tom Schilling (born 10 February 1982) is a German film and television actor. Life and acting career Schilling grew up in the formerly East German borough of Berlin Mitte. He was discovered at the age of 12 by stage director Thomas Heise, and ...

and

Burghart Klaußner Burghart Klaußner (born 13 September 1949) is a German film actor. He received acting training at the in Berlin. Klaußner had engagements at Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, Hamburger Kammerspiele and at the theaters in Cologne Cologne ...

in the title role. It premiered at the Berlinale 2019.

Plot

The film focusses more on Brecht's relationships with women (namely

Paula Banholzer Paula Banholzer (born 6 August 1901 in Markt Wald; died 25 February 1989 in Augsburg) was an educator and first love of Bertolt Brecht. Life The daughter of the physician Carl Banholzer, she was born and grew up in the Middle-Swabian Markt Wald ...

Marianne Zoff Marianne Josephine Zoff (30 June 1893 – 22 November 1984) was an Austrian actress and opera singer (mezzo-soprano). Zoff was born in Hainfeld, Lower Austria. Starting in 1919 at the Staatstheater Augsburg, she sang at several German opera hous ...

Helene Weigel Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was a German actress and artistic director. She was the second wife of Bertolt Brecht and was married to him from 1930 until his death in 1956. Together they had two children. Personal life Weigel was b ...

Elisabeth Hauptmann Elisabeth Hauptmann (20 June 1897, Peckelsheim, Westphalia, German Empire – 20 April 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year she ...

Ruth Berlau Ruth Berlau (24 August 1906, Charlottenlund – 15 January 1974, East Berlin) was a Danish actress, director, photographer and writer, known for her collaboration with Bertolt Brecht and for founding the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv in Berlin. Born t ...

Käthe Reichel Käthe or Kathe is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Käthe Dorsch (1890–1957), German actress *Käthe Gold (1907–1997), Austrian actress *Käthe Grasegger, later Deuschl (1917–2001), German alpine skier * Kathe Green (bo ...

Regine Lutz Regine () or Régine is a feminine given name. Regine is a German-French form of Regina, and Régine is a French form of Regina. People with the first name include: Regine * Regine Heitzer (born 1944), Austrian figure skater * Regine Hildebran ...

and Isot Kilian) than on his plays and poems. It does not mention the term

epic theatre Epic theatre (german: episches Theater) is a theatrical movement arising in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners who responded to the political climate of the time through the creati ...

(though rehearsal scenes in Part 2 illustrate his working process with the

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langhoff ...

) and his years of exile are skipped - Bresloer has written: :"Naturally I would also like to have treated his exile. But that would have been a very particular film and there wasn't enough budget or airtime for it. In my novel about the film, however, exile does come up, especially his time with

Margarete Steffin Margarete Emilie Charlotte Steffin (21 March 1908 – 4 June 1941) was a German actress and writer, one of Bertold Brecht's closest collaborators, as well as a prolific translator from Russian and Scandinavian languages. Biography Born to a pro ...

.'' Part of the film consists of an account by Martin Pohl, one of Brecht's Masters students, who was imprisoned for two years - it tells how he was tortured by sleep deprivation and gave a

false confession A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogat ...

Part 1

This deals with Brecht's time in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

before his exile. "I'll come right behind Goethe" muses the slight and shy-looking 17-year-old schoolboy to his young love Paula, wanting to be the latest genius. His friends laugh with him at his presumptuousness and yet believe him.

Part 2

This mainly deals with his life and work in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

after his return from exile, such as his work with the

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed wa ...

regime in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. This includes the SED central committee's 1953 plan to hand over the

Theater am Schiffbauerdamm The ''Theater am Schiffbauerdamm'' () is a theatre building at the ''Schiffbauerdamm'' riverside in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, opened on 19 November 1892. Since 1954, it has been home to the Berliner Ensemble theatre company, founded ...

to the Kasernierten Volkspolizei ensemble (later known as the

Erich-Weinert-Ensemble The Erich-Weinert-Ensemble was a professional army ensemble of the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic. The ensemble consisted of a male choir, a ballet, an orchestra, a cabaret, soloists, dramaturges, conductors, directors, ch ...

) and Brecht's successful appeal to

Otto Grotewohl Otto Emil Franz Grotewohl (; 11 March 1894 – 21 September 1964) was a German politician who served as the first prime minister of the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany) from its foundation in October 1949 until his death in Septembe ...

against this. That venue has thus housed the Berliner Ensemble (founded by Brecht and Weigel in 1949) since 1954.

Cast

: Brecht as a young man *

: Brecht as an older man in the post-war period * Lou Strenger:

as a young woman *

Adele Neuhauser Adele Neuhauser (born 17 January 1959 in Athens, Greece) is an Austrian actress. She began her career as a theater actress. Later she also worked for television and cinema. She is a member of the Akademie des Österreichischen Films. Life Adele ...

: Helene Weigel as an older woman * Mala Emde:

, Brecht's first love *

Friederike Becht Friederike Becht (born 14 October 1986) is a German actress. Life Becht was born in Bad Bergzabern, and studied acting at the Berlin University of the Arts. She worked as an actor at the Ernst Deutsches Theater Hamburg, the Schauspielhaus Z� ...

, Brecht's first wife *

Leonie Benesch Leonie Benesch (born 22 April 1991 in Hamburg) is a German actress who has played roles in major productions including ''Babylon Berlin ''and ''The Crown'', as well as ''Around the World in 80 Days''. She is currently based in London. Biography I ...

, Brecht's translator and collaborator *

Trine Dyrholm Trine Dyrholm (; born 15 April 1972) is a Danish actress, singer and songwriter. Dyrholm received national recognition when she placed third in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix as a 14-year-old singer. Four years later, she again achieved national re ...

, Brecht's Danish lover and collaborator *

Franz Hartwig Franz Hartwig (born 1986) is a German actor. Life He was born in Dresden.He lives in Berlin. Selected filmography * 2019: ''Der Pass'' (TV series) as Gregor Ansbach * 2021: ' (TV film) as Georg Kelz References External links * * ...

Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augsburg. He ...

, a friend of Brecht *

Anatole Taubman Anatole Taubman (born 23 December 1970) is a Swiss actor. He is best known for his performance as Elvis in ''Quantum of Solace ''Quantum of Solace'' is a 2008 spy film and the twenty-second in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' se ...

Ernst Josef Aufricht Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975-) ...

, director of the

* Thimo Meitner: Walter Brecht, Brecht's brother * Anna Herrmann:

Maria Dragus Maria-Victoria Drăguș (born 1994) is a German-Romanian actress. Her film credits include '' If Not Us, Who?'', '' Draussen ist Sommer'' and '' Kill Me''. One notable role was in Palme d'Or-winning 2009 film '' The White Ribbon''. She has had ...

Laura de Boer Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay on ...

: Isot Kilian

Accuracy

Reception

External links (in German)

arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

„Brecht“ - Interview mit Heinrich Breloer und Burkhart Klaussner
* Bavaria Fiction:
Brecht TV-Event
* Berliner Zeitung
Heinrich Breloer im Interview Über Brecht und des Teufels erstklassige Arbeit
* Das Erste

*

Kiepenheuer & Witsch Kiepenheuer & Witsch is a German publishing house, established in 1948 by Joseph C. Witsch and on behalf of Gustav Kiepenheuer (who was already terminally ill). The partners initially held respectively 30% and 40% of the company's share capita ...

Heinrich Breloers Buch über Bertolt Brecht: Ein Denkmal wird lebendig.
* * {{Cite web, url=https://www.crew-united.com/de/projekte/displayProjectdata.asp?IDPD=215920#, title=Crew United entry

on berlinale.de

References

Bertolt Brecht Drama television films Austrian television films German television films Czech television films 2019 television films 2019 biographical drama films Biographical films about dramatists and playwrights German biographical films Austrian biographical films Czech biographical films German docudrama films 2010s German-language films Films set in the 1910s Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1950s Films set in East Germany Films set in Munich Films set in Berlin 2010s German films Das Erste original programming