Ingeborg Bachmann – Reise in die Wüste (Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey Into the Desert)

Not every public figure lives a life worth examining – or so an audience may suspect after director Margarethe von Trotta’s Ingeborg Bachmann – Reise in die Wüste. This is assuming that the audience is aware of Austrian poet and writer Ingeborg Bachmann, whose work perhaps isn’t so well-known outside of the German-speaking world. The dilemma posed by Von Trotta’s feature is its very reason for existing: there’s a strong argument that Bachmann’s life simply doesn’t make for an interesting film, regardless of how handsome it happens to be.

Mostly set in the late 50s and early 60s, Bachmann (played by the exceptional Vicky Krieps) basks in past literary glories while being unable to create new ones, falls in love with the playwright, Max Frisch (Ronald Zehrfeld), feels suffocated, moves to Rome, and, in a move that should surprise nobody, takes a journey into the desert, where there are more hackneyed metaphors than grains of sand. There’s a lot of mawkish dialogue that isn’t supposed to be funny, with characters falling for each other for no reason other than the screenplay telling them to. The grand, discordant love affair between Bachmann and Frisch is especially unconvincing. After a brief, low-energy encounter, they apparently can’t live without each other, for reasons that are never demonstrated.

A viewer may want to shake the assembled characters by the shoulders and tell them to cheer up. The film is a textbook case of an exemplary performance elevating incredibly flat material. Krieps is better than the story deserves, giving Ingeborg a wistful, wispy, almost nervy delicacy; she’s vulnerable without a hint of weakness. As Frisch, Ronald Zehrfeld flounders, despite his best efforts. The character is supposed to be magnetic, but just comes across as a chauvinistic void.

This subdued dramatisation of a life that should have stayed on the page never pops – to be quite frank, it never comes close. As elegant and confidently put-together as the production is, the sole reason for its existence seems to be to get its star nominated for awards. 

Oliver Johnston

Ingeborg Bachmann – Reise in die Wüste (Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey Into the Desert) does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2023 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.

Watch a clip from Ingeborg Bachmann – Reise in die Wüste (Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey Into the Desert) here: