"If I keep listening to it, I won't finish the revolution"
Lenin on listening to Beethoven's 'Appassionata'
I'll never forget the weeks I spent in Eastern Germany right after the Wall fell in the early 90's. For three weeks I walked the streets and drove around the countryside. It was half nightmare, half dream. And despite the grey buildings and environmental damage, the austerity and simplicity of the landscape had a beauty to it that made me feel that we had lost something in the West. Just, imagine no advertising or graffitti in the subway....
All of these memories came flooding back last year when I saw The Lives of Others for the first time. Aside from winning the Oscar for best foreign film in 2007 and being a deeply moving and inspirational piece of work, the interiors stayed with me for days. The director painstakingly recreated them within the original buildings. They are beautiful and do not exist anywhere else.
The pictures here are taken from the film, and don't show enough, but if you look closely you will notice that there are two dominant styles at play here - the grey state style and the warmer personal style of the film's lead, a playwrite named Georg Dreyman. While the rooms that display the former are mesmerizing, it is Georg's apartment that excites. Large, airy and filled with old furniture and art, it is an artist's home, but one before multimedia, computers and too much plastic. There's a great party scene.
While not colorful, his home is warm, cozy and personal - the sort of place where you could imagine curling up and reading a book (or writing a book for that matter). Tones are browns and reds and plenty of dirty whites. This is the modest home of passion and personal dignity in the film, and it inspired me to rethink how I approach interior design.
Throughout, ALL of the interiors are modest. None of them scream money, flash namebrands or seek to overpower. The rooms sit quietly back while the humanity of the inhabitants come forward. As a viewer, it creates a rich experience, and as a designer it reminded me that the aim of design is to enable humanity, not distract from it.
If you've never had a chance to visit Eastern Europe, particularly in the early 90's, go see this film. It is an interior designer's feast.
(Re-Edited from 2008-01-11 - MGR)
there is a pretty amazing documentry on the DVD that explains the art direction of the film and about how hard it was for the director and the designer to get the colors right both indoors and out doors. It is a pretty amazing testiment to their vision.
view kristian's profile
I love that movie so very much.
view reversibleraincoat's profile
I am so glad that you wrote this post about the interior design of Dreyman's apartment in The Lives of Others. Every time I see the movie I am swept away and entranced by the simplicity and the intimacy of the decor.
view nestlikealice's profile
Man, I LOVE(d) the interiors on that film. I'm glad that I am not alone. :)
view tara1979's profile
I loved this movie. The acting is wonderful. I did not notice the interiors as much until the second time I saw it. Dreyman's apartment is exactly right for a writer and actor: arty, eclectic, warm, slightly cluttered and cozy.
view slowdown's profile
I went to Prague in 1991 with my mom, and she said it reminded her of being in Vienna in the early 60's when she was a student there....the streets were dark, and there was no advertising anywhere. It was spare and beautiful, and I'm afraid to go back because I'm sure it's all been glammed up, the mysteries gone, or at least shouted down. Why can't we do this without the totalitarian state?
view littlehouser's profile
The other fascinating interior in the movie is the one of the stasi man. Its a functional but bleak White and brown apartment with few personal effect. A huge contrast in the film to that of his artistic freethinking 'nemesis' Georg.
view Clairepetrol's profile
And occassionally when you see incredibly spare apartments in design magazines with no personal effects they remind me of the Stasi-mans apartment....
view Clairepetrol's profile
@littlehouser, I was in Prague in 1991 and have returned multiple times since. The changes since '91 are... significant. It's now home to the largest indoor mall in Europe, if that gives you an idea.
view rosenatti's profile
Oh, and Maxwell, I remember that era in Berlin, too. The electricity in the air was amazing. I miss it.
view rosenatti's profile
I liked the interiors in this film as well. It is a very good film.
view KWorld's profile
I also loved this movie so much. Thanks for posting 'bout it.
view royaloaker's profile
Good Movie, yes. Good design, yes. Sentimental over a period in time where individualism was against the law, hmmm. I am somewhat bothered by our affinity for simplicity while staring oppression in the face.
Simplicity through choice and taste is beautiful.
I would much prefer a world "polluted" by advertising and gaudiness than East Germany during this period.
view jacob55555's profile
I used to go to Prague in the '80s. It was wonderful. No advertising anywhere (well, except for the occasional communist slogan on factory gates).
I remember one afternoon in particular... we had been in West Germany, buying paint (good quality paint was not to be had in Czechoslovakia). It was hot and sunny, and on our way home to Prague, we stopped at beautiful deserted little pond, and went skinny dipping (no private lands in those days!). On our way back to Prague, everything was serene in comparison -- no billboards, no strip joints at the side of the road...
As weird as it sounds to describe a return to a communist state, it felt like a blessed relief after the frenetic atmosphere in Germany. It was peaceful and lovely; but then, I could come and go as I chose, and did not have to submit to the idiocies of the regime.
Now, the Czech Republic far outdoes the rest of Europe on the advertising scale (I think the highway billboards were an idea imported from North America, as they are not common practice in Europe). I hope they find a way to strike a better balance. Maybe with time.
view mschatelaine's profile
thank you for posting about this film. it is one of our favorites. not only beautiful, but haunting too
view formosagirl's profile
beautiful Ostalgie (nostalgia for the east), yes. But the design is about as historically accurate as the great gatsby. That said, I'd kill for that apartment.
view 212gretchen's profile
I haven't seen a lot of foreign films (unfortunately), but The Lives of Others was really powerful for me. I never expected it to pop up here though.
view Alaricus's profile