Das melancholische Mädchen
Aren't You Happy?
Melancholy girls can be typified as follows: they roam around, talk, have sex and nothing else happens. Yet there's enough to see in the 14 episodes that make up this post-modern comedy. The episodes are as theatrical as they are colorful: from a ride on a unicorn through a neon-lit industrial area to aerobics with babies; nothing is too crazy in Susanne Heinrich's fairy-tale, playful and absurdist world. However, behind the façade, there seems to be a void. The girl feels like a tourist in her own life. And in the conversations with her bed partners, she experiences no bonding, only an empty echo of herself. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
Director's Biography
Susanne Heinrich
German filmmaker Susanne Heinrich wrote four books between the ages of 19 and 25. She was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, received fellowships at Villa Aurora L.A. and Casa Baldi Olevano Romano, and she sings in several bands. She studies at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin (dffb). "Aren't You Happy?" is her first feature film and won the Film Festival Max Ophüls Preis 2019.
Film Selection: Das melancholische Mädchen (Aren't You Happy?, 2019)
German filmmaker Susanne Heinrich wrote four books between the ages of 19 and 25. She was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, received fellowships at Villa Aurora L.A. and Casa Baldi Olevano Romano, and she sings in several bands. She studies at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin (dffb). "Aren't You Happy?" is her first feature film and won the Film Festival Max Ophüls Preis 2019.
Film Selection: Das melancholische Mädchen (Aren't You Happy?, 2019)
Competition Fiction 2019
Susanne Heinrich
Germany 2019
color
80 minutes
German OV with English subtitles
Screenplay Susanne Heinrich
Cinematography Agnesh Pakozdi
Editing Susanne Heinrich, Benjamin Mirguet
Sound/Sounddesign Silvio Nauman, Wiebke Köplin, Niklas Kammertöns
Music Moritz Sembritzki, Mathias Bloech
With Marie Rathscheck, Nicolo Pasetti, Monika Wiedemer, Yann Grouhel, Nicolai Borger, Pero Radicic
Producer(s) Jana Kreissl, Philippe Bober
Production
Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin, Essential Filmproduktion
World Sales
Coproduction Office
Austrian Premiere
World Premiere
Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis 2019
