Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

A Stasi Comedy

The absurdity of life under the Stasi
by
ABR Arts 27 May 2022

A Stasi Comedy

The absurdity of life under the Stasi
by
ABR Arts 27 May 2022
A still from <em>A Stasi Comedy</em>, screening as part of the German Film Festival (image courtesy of Palace Films)
A still from A Stasi Comedy, screening as part of the German Film Festival (image courtesy of Palace Films)

A Stasi Comedy bundles its explorations of truth, desire, morality, and freedom into an exuberant coming-of-age story. In Melbourne, the Palace Cinema Como was humming in anticipation at the opening night of the German Film Festival. Christoph Mücher, director of the Goethe Institut, invited us to celebrate the joy of a shared film experience; we raised our glasses and toasted our fellow-cinemagoers – a nice touch.

Director Leander Haußmann is back on familiar ground with A Stasi Comedy (Stasikomödie, 2022). The film’s title hides nothing. Haußmann’s conclusion to his trilogy of East German comedies asks us whether the dictatorship’s most notorious institution might, in a way, be a joke. At this year’s festival, A Stasi Comedy is but one of six films that depict the former German Democratic Republic – an indication that filmmakers continue to be attracted to the subject.

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.