There was hope that with Todd Haynes as jury president (the other jury members were director Nabil Ayouch from Morocco, actress Fan Bingbing from the People's Republic of China, costume designer Bina Daigeler from Germany, director Rodrigo Moreno from Argentina, film critic and author Amy Nicholson from the USA and director and actress Maria Schrader from Germany), the absurd allocation of prizes at the Berlinale would come to an end. And that was how it turned out. At last, no more mediocre documentaries or weird Romanian productions that have won the Golden Bear in recent years, but instead cinematic quality as the decisive criterion. ‘Drømmer’ (Dreams) by Dag Johan Haugerud is a worthy winner and was one of the films that stood out in a mixed competition. The story of adolescent infatuation and its literary elaboration forms the final part of a trilogy that raises fundamental questions about love, sex and identity. The third part is perhaps a little dialogue-heavy, but that is tolerable.
A wise decision was also made for the Silver Bear and Grand Jury Prize. The Brazilian film ‘O último azul’ (The Blue Trail - literally: The Last Blue) by Gabriel Mascaro combines a glimpse into a dystopian future with the story of personal liberation. In authoritarian Brazil (the screenplay was written during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro) 77-year-old Tereza, who works on a crocodile farm, refuses to take part in the state-ordered euthanasia programme for the elderly. Instead, she sets off on an adventure in the Amazon jungle. With its rich imagery and humane message, ‘O último azul’ also won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.
That the award for best director went to Huo Meng was quite a surprise. His film ‘Sheng xi zhi di’ (Living the Land) takes us back to the Chinese countryside in the early 90s. Ten-year-old Chuang grows up with his grandparents, his parents have gone to work in the city. In the village, he experiences the cycle of sowing and harvesting, traditional ceremonies that are celebrated collectively, such as weddings and funerals. Huo Meng sketches a village cosmos that is gradually changing under the pressure of economic transformations.
One of the unfortunate legacies of the Rissenbeek/Chatrian era is the abolition of male and female acting awards in favour of a unisex prize, which of course invariably goes to a woman. This year it went to the Australian Rose Byrne for her tour de force performance in ‘If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You’. In addition the jury cunningly invented a prize for Best Supporting Actor, which went to Andrew Scott for his role as musical composer Richard Rodgers in ‘Blue Moon’.
In contrast, the screenplay prize for the Romanian Radu Jude and his film ‘Kontinental “25” seems like a bad joke. Jude is a master of low-budget arthouse productions. Producing a string of 13 films, including 3 short films, in the past 10 years. Placing two characters in a single shot in a Romanian city, in this case Cluj/Klausenburg, he lets them talk for minutes about God and the world. About excessive rent, property speculation, homelessness and the situation of the Hungarian minority in Transylvania. As the title suggests, it is not just about Romania, but about the whole continent in 2025. A critics' favourite, Radu Jude is often celebrated for his crisis awareness and allegedly subtle humour.
The screenplay prize for Lionel Baier's film adaptation of the novel "La cache" would have been more appropriate. A film that has everything that "Kontinental '25" lacks, that doesn't bore the audience with meandering dialogue. It was completely incomprehensible that "Dreams" by Michel Franco, one of the most impressive films in the competition, was left empty-handed at the awards ceremony. Jessica Chastain was up for the acting prize, Michel Franco for directing and screenplay. A Golden Bear would also have been appropriate. It can be assumed that Michel Franco will prefer to present his next film in Venice.
This Berlinale was relatively free of political upsets, apart from Tilda Swinton's sympathies for the BDS movement, which she discreetly expressed in the press conference for her Bear of Honour. Otherwise, a clearly feminist signature with a preference for women's stories was recognisable in the competition, sometimes at the expense of cinematic quality. All in all, one could sense the breath of a new beginning at this 75th Berlinale, which leaves one cautiously optimistic. The record audience figures for ticket sales also give hope for the future.