25/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: The German director's decades-spanning film proves that when the going gets tough, it’s good to… sit on a washing machine

Joachim is probably the only child who can call a psychiatric clinic his home. His father works there, but in the house, things aren’t much calmer either. In When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sonja Heiss
film profile], plating in the Generation 14plus section at the Berlinale, Sonja Heiss looks back in time and shows the past just like it always was: imperfect.

Cineuropa: I don’t think I have ever seen a film, dedicated to a young audience, set in a place like this one.
Sonja Heiss: When I read the novel, it was partly why I wanted to make a film out of it. Can you imagine growing up in a psychiatric clinic, in the 1970s and 80s?! The thing is, he is not even the only kid who did that. When I was doing my research, I met this psychologist and she grew up in the German Democratic Republic, in a very similar place. It was normal for people who ran these clinics to live there on the ground.

I was wondering if being surrounded by so many different people makes you more open towards others. Or more accepting?
The real question is: What is normal? You see all these struggles within this family, too – they aren’t more “normal” than the patients. Sometimes, Joachim feels safer when he is with them, not with his brothers or parents.

Whenever someone decides to tell a period story, there is this risk of being overly nostalgic. Was it important to still stay realistic about, for example, how this family functions?
Visually it’s still very atmospheric, there are these great songs, so there is beauty here, but there is a lot of pain and sadness, too. This might be typically German of me to say, but we are afraid of kitsch. We aren’t too nostalgic. Also, the 1970s can be such a trap. You have bell-bottoms, all these shades of brown. When we started, I thought: “Oh God, it feels like a costume party. I am not even listening to my actors.” I wanted to make sure I wasn’t exaggerating it. Because once you do, no one will take this story seriously. 

You pay attention to little things. They don’t necessarily push the story forward, but they say something about this family – especially the scene on the boat.
The novel [by Joachim Meyerhoff] is very anecdotic, it’s held together with more of an intellectual thread. I had to find these little hooks, too. This sailing exam is a funny scene, but I used it to show that this marriage is in a bad shape. At first, his father is mocking his wife for not studying enough, then he loses it himself. She goes: “You can be an example to your kids, show them that you can fail and then try again.” He says that you can also decide not to fail. “But you failed today,” she says. 

Ouch! A proper kick in the stomach.
But I loved it, because finally she is winning. This marriage is a battle sometimes. It happens in most families. It’s just a complicated thing.

This story keeps on going, for years and years. Were you worried about these time jumps?
I thought about these transitions a lot. This story is only touching when you get to see the end, it makes you think about your own life and your own family. But it was tricky: Joachim is played by three different actors, and so are his brothers. I knew I wouldn’t be able to find boys who look the same – it had to do with charisma.

You also touch upon something that’s very timely today: mental health. How did you want to approach it?
I wanted to show that they are living together with the patients. Then this girl comes there as well and when they talk about the fact that she already tried to commit suicide, Joachim seems very “cool” about it. He is accepting her disease, falls in love. I wanted to show that you are not your disease. He can certainly see that.

In my last film [Hedi Schneider Is Stuck [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sonja Heiss
film profile]], the protagonist has panic attacks and depression. I said publicly that I also suffered from it. It was very new: that someone would talk about it, without the fear of being called crazy. Now, so many people open up. In the past, someone would worry: “If she is depressed, then maybe she can’t make a movie.”

I guess we are slowly realising that people can be many things. So is Joachim’s father. He could easily be viewed as a villain, but you give him a chance.
It’s another time, too – men were different back then. Later on, when the film becomes more tragic, it would never touch you if you would just write him off as an idiot. He makes mistakes, and a lot of them, but there is a good side to him, too. Just like for the rest of us.