1968, West Germany. A man checks into prison and is made to strip. He obliges compliantly, with a prison guard watching. Then, he makes a flashing gesture—that can be read as both binding and subtly defiant—to the guard. This is Hans, the tragic but irrepressible lead of Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom. The film, which won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, begins chronologically from 1945, after the Allies have freed the Nazi concentration camps. But for Hans—who is homosexual and has been arrested under Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code—the horrors have dragged on.
Hans is played by German actor Franz Rogowski, known to world cinema viewers from films like Victoria, Happy End, and A Hidden Life. Great Freedom has been hailed as one of his finest performances yet. We spoke to Franz about slipping into the role of Hans, creating intimacy in bleakness and his process of ‘finding my own reality’. Excerpts…
What has been your experience promoting and talking about the film?
It’s been wonderful. Several journalists I spoke to have had a gay experience themselves, growing up in countries that are more or less oppressive and scared (of homosexuality). Therefore, there has been a lot of personal engagement with the film and in the research of good questions.
You’re 36. Did the world of pre-reunification Germany, as portrayed in the film, surprise you?
I grew up in a country that always saw itself as democratic, transparent, and open. But while preparing for the film, I realised it was not so. We had structural violence in our past. People were scared of something they knew was literally dangerous, since they could go to jail for that. We got rid of Paragraph 175 in 1994, which is late given that I was born in 1986.
What was the research process for the film?
Sebastian, our director, talked to people who had gone through such experiences. He also spoke to holocaust survivors, and people who had lost their loved ones due to imprisonment.
My approach was a little different. I am scared of recreating someone else’s life, or embodying a different history, profession or sexual orientation. Instead of doing that, I try to find my own reality within the fictional character. I used painful experiences from my own life.
Is less more for you in acting?
I love it when the music, editing, sound design, dialogue, and action all work together to create a movie. Whereas other movies have a tendency to open up space for a performance. Politically speaking, I am not interested in the great performers doing a very good job. I am more longing for a utopic space where things exist rather than dominate one another.
The heart of the film is Han’s friendship with cellmate Viktor, played by Georg Friedrich.
Georg is an actor I have always admired. I like how he approaches a character. There is something truthful about it. We were looking forward to telling this love story together.
From the first day, we had an easy-going friendship. He is a man of great honesty and simplicity. I could laugh with him about the mistakes we made along the way.
Is there a country/film industry you’re looking forward to working in?
I would love to come to India and make a movie there.
‘Great Freedom’ is on MUBI