The actor Lars Eidinger was a star guest at the Five Lakes Film Festival in Starnberg at the weekend. He received a lot of applause from the audience, as did his new film "Persian Lessons".
Starnberg - “I was really happy about the invitation. I love Bavaria, I love Munich and Bavarian food. ”In a good mood and completely without starry airs, exceptional actor Lars Eidinger (44) presented himself to the audience of the Five Lakes Film Festival (FSFF) as a man without vanity and raved about the hotel Feldafing.
“I felt like a colonial ruler. First the view of the mountains and the lake, then neither mountains nor lake, but across from Sepp Bierbichler, who taught me a Schuhplattler 13 years ago. I'm a total fan of this culture here and I am amazed that nobody is walking around in lederhosen. "The audience lay at his feet immediately, and then he said:" I also have lederhosen in the closet. "
Before the film “Persian Lessons” started, festival director Matthias Helwig wanted to know whether Eidinger would rather play theater or make a film at the Berlin Schaubühne. The answer came promptly: “Theater. Because the immediate is the big asset. In the film I play for people in the future. "
The drama “Persian Lessons” by the Ukrainian-Canadian director Vadim Perelman tells a ludicrous story that is supposed to have actually happened. Eidinger plays SS-Hauptsturmführer Klaus Koch, who takes language lessons from a Jew who is persecuted by the Nazis because he is supposedly a Persian. Because Koch has a dream. He wants to open a restaurant in Tehran after the end of the war. For this he wants to learn Farsi. And Gilles (Nahuel Perez Biscayart), who received a copy of The Myths of the Persians for a piece of bread, claims to be Persian. He escapes death because the SS man wants to learn Farsi. Actually a victim, now Gilles, who knows no Farsi at all, teaches the SS man in the camp in a language he does not speak. From then on a crazy student-teacher relationship develops. The prisoner has to come up with new vocabulary every day and watch out as hell that this does not lead to his undoing with this nerdy, ambitious student.
After the performance in Starnberg there was a lot of applause for the film and for Lars Eidinger. The shooting took place in Belarus, the crew was not allowed to leave the camp or hotel. Nevertheless, Eidinger once got away and got out of the cordoned off area, but was followed at every turn by a driver. “It's all a bit cranky,” said the actor, remembering the “really freezing” winter of 2018/19. "I learned to appreciate the German workmanship." He meant working stoves.
How does he approach his roles? Eidinger answered Helwig's question in a refreshingly simple way: “I'm learning the text. Then I put on the costume. That does something to you too. I just have to get involved with the situation. It happens. ”He is satisfied with the finished film. “Now it's right for me and it works. When I was shooting, I went home after a lot of scenes and thought that I wasn't good enough or that I was acting wrong. It's always a fragile construct. ”And he wouldn't do anything else. "I thought it was pretty good."
“Persian Lessons” will run again on Monday, September 7th, at 2 and 8 p.m. in Starnberg.
By Astrid Amelungse-Kurth