26/10/2022 - Despite the presence of a decent cast and an appealing setting, Aelrun Goette’s coming-of-age romcom gets bogged down in too many clichés inherent to the two genres

It’s early summer in East Berlin, just a few months before the fall of the Wall. A joyful opening sequence set to the notes of Suzi Quatro’s “Devil Gate Drive” depicts our lead character, 17-year-old Suzie (Marlene Burow), as she dreams of becoming a writer and attending college. However, she is soon questioned by the Stasi. She is found in possession of an illegal copy of George Orwell’s novel 1984. As punishment, the socialist authorities expel the girl from school and force her to work in a factory.

This is the premise of In a Land that No Longer Exists [+see also:
trailer
film profile], penned and directed by Aerlun Goette (the TV series Tatort and Letzte Spur Berlin), which had its international premiere in the Progressive Cinema strand of this year’s Rome Film Fest.

The first plot twist takes place very soon after. While seated on a tram, a photographer called Coyote (David Schütter) takes a picture of Suzie, and her face ends up on the front cover of Sibylle, the country’s most prestigious fashion magazine. All of a sudden, Suzie is offered a way to quit her job at the factory: to pose as a model for the magazine and take part in fashion shows.

Without mincing words, the film doesn’t dazzle in terms of its originality, often falling into the typical clichés and tropes of the coming-of-age and romcom genres. Among these are the presence of Uta (a beautiful rival, angered by Suzie’s success, played by Sira Topic); the conflicts between barely sketched-out characters, with threats that manage to be swept under the carpet after a few scenes have gone by; the overly sappy dialogues between Suzie and Coyote (to cite one example: “I wanted to be a writer. College and all that.” “I don’t read books.” “Why not?” “Life is my teacher.”); the over-used “empowerment” speeches about beauty and freedom; and the younger sister who envies Suzie’s unexpected stroke of luck and wishes she could be like her. It’s true that the empowerment message is positive and commendable, but it is rendered so banally that it may have a hard time intercepting a more adult audience. Suzie doesn’t really seem to determine her fate very much, as she can only choose between going back to the factory and modelling.

The character of Rudi (Sabin Tambrea), the androgynous and supportive friend who is part of the models’ entourage, had the potential to open up an interesting subplot revolving around how hard it was being homosexual in East Germany, but the turn of events involving him is developed in patchy fashion, and we struggle to dig beyond the surface.

On a more positive note, the actors manage to do a fair job, and technically speaking – in particular, in terms of the cinematography, score and set design – the movie is perfectly pleasant on the ear and on the eye. The closure of Suzie’s vicissitudes is quite predictable and in line with the “standard package” offered here by Goette.

In a Land that No Longer Exists was staged by Germany’s Ziegler Film in co-production with TOBIS Productions, StudioBabelsberg, Gretchenfilm, RBB, ARD Degeto, WDR, MDR and SWR, and in collaboration with ARTE. Beta Cinema is in charge of its world sales.