The heartwarming comedy “Agnes and Amir,” which had its world premiere at the Munich Film Festival on Sunday, probably wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for director Helena Hufnagel’s grandmother.
The film is inspired by the true story of Agnes, a 101-year-old woman living in Berlin, and Amir, a young gay Iranian refugee. To avoid a nursing home, Agnes invited Amir to live in her apartment, and this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
“Agnes and Amir” starring Katharina Thalbach and Baldo Boehlefeld
Nordpolaris, courtesy of X Verleih
Hufnagel first came across their story thanks to a documentary about them that aired on the cultural channel Arte and the German broadcaster ZDF. Both companies are partners in the narrativization of her story.
“I saw this movie with my grandmother, who was 96 years old at the time, and she said, “I never want to do that.” At that point, I thought, “Okay, I have to do this movie.” It’s funny, it took us three years to make the movie. , my grandmother was living the stories that we were telling. She was so encouraged by me making the film that I told her all about it. So I decided to get some home help from Poland and make the film,” she told Variety. I moved into her house and they became friends. And in the last few months she had to go to a nursing home, where she became friends with a 20-year-old girl, like a really best friend. ”
“For me, this was like proof that this is a potential that exists in all of us. Agnes and Amir are no exception. Everyone has the opportunity and possibility to form such friendships, even if they are separated for many years. You have to be courageous. For example, while we were filming,[my grandmother]was living the story. So, in fact, this film would not have existed without her. I probably would not have done it.”
Helena Hufnagel
Node Polaris, courtesy of Ann Wilke
it’s about friendship
The issues this film deals with are very serious. Persecution of homosexuals in Iran. Loneliness of the elderly. Growing hostility towards refugees in Germany. and the traumatic experiences of people during wartime. However, since it’s a comedy, it was important to get the tone right.
“We were thinking about this a lot, and I was aware of the political climate in which I was making this film, and I saw it as a personal, quiet antidote to this political climate, where attitudes like ‘refugees are a problem’ and ‘old people are a burden’ are prevalent. And making a film about a 100-year-old Berliner and a gay Iranian refugee in this day and age is already a political statement in itself. ”
She continued, “But this isn’t a movie about refugees, it’s a movie about friendship. And this is the plot we have, so this comes with it. And…yeah…I thought, ‘I want to feel more warm when the audience walks out[of the theater].’ And loneliness is also a big theme, but since they’re out of their bubble and sitting in a room with lots of strangers, they probably won’t feel lonely for a little while.
“So I thought, ‘No, we’re going for the friendship and the warm side.'” The warm chemistry between them is what I was striving for all along on set. I continued to enjoy the warm moments between them. When you’re arguing, fighting, drinking tea together, etc. And this is very important to me…bringing this warmth. ”
The emotions she observed while watching Grandma with her young friends were incorporated into the film.
Her grandmother helped in other ways. “My grandmother always said I stole lines from her. I always asked, ‘How did you get so old?’ as if I was the only one left at that age. And she said, ‘Curiosity about the world. I can’t stop thinking about it.” So I thought this movie was an invitation to be curious and stay curious, which is what I was going for, rather than the politics attached to the characters.”
culture clash
German audiences are looking forward to Katharina Thalbach’s performance as Agnes. Thalbach is one of Germany’s most acclaimed and beloved actresses. Internationally, she is best known for her roles in Volker Schlöndorff’s Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning The Tin Drum and Alan J. Pakula’s Sophie’s Choice.
“She’s very famous here in Germany, but you wouldn’t recognize her. We did a lot of tests: camera tests, makeup tests, makeup artist tests. She’s 72 years old, but she’s playing someone 30 years older. It took us three months to build this character with her, and I still think her warmth, strength and humor come through, which is probably what the German audience is looking for.”
She will co-star with up-and-coming actor Baldo Boehlefeld, who was nominated for the Best New Actor Award at the 2022 Munich International Film Festival for “Every Russian Loves a Birch Tree”. Her father is German, but her mother’s entire family is from Iran and she can speak Persian. “He knows the[Iranian]culture very well,” she says. “We worked on this piece a lot and did a lot of improvisation on set. Some things went way beyond the script because I brought in the chemistry and the moments in between. And I really liked that he brought in the Iranian culture clash stuff. We did all the research, but there’s always something different when an actor brings that. He knows what he’s like, so that was really interesting.”
One of the memorable lines is when Amir says that in Persian culture, people politely say no when offered food, but say yes when asked a third time. Agnes bitterly replies that she is Prussian, and that a Prussian only has to say “no” once and that’s it. “It’s so funny because this is actually what happens in their real lives as well. We shot this moment on set and I really had to grab it and I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’ll never understand this when I’m writing this.'” I really need to find these scenes here (on set). ”
Iranian background
Events in Iran unfolded so rapidly during the three years the film was made, including street protests and violence by security forces against demonstrators, that Hufnagel had to make changes in the editing room to reflect them. The feelings of the actors, who have family in Iran, also influenced the tone of the film.
summer in berlin
Hufnagel explains that Berlin plays an important role in the film. “I tried to find a place that I thought would fit not only the older character of Agnes, but also the younger character of Amir. It’s like a road trip through Berlin, like now. You’re not just spending time with her, you’re living in the present with him. And I loved that people got a sense of the city.”
“I was trying to tell[this story]in the summer because this story is so much about loneliness. I thought it would be so easy to tell it in the winter because people are obviously lonely in the winter. But in the summer, everyone’s out and everyone’s connecting with someone else. I feel like that’s when people are hanging out. I think that’s when people feel the most lonely because they see everyone around them being happy or having someone to spend the day with. And both of these people are lonely.
overcome adversity
This story has many different elements. It’s a gay love story. The relationship between Amir and Agnes. His fight against refugee status. Political situation in Iran. And a dance contest. How did she ensure that these multiple storylines didn’t confuse viewers?
“Well, to be honest, we shot a lot more than we did in the movie,” she says. “Because each of these elements had a complete storyline. But in the editing room, we just wanted to focus on the friendship between the two main characters, and the rest of it was kind of atmospheric, just to add to the characters and tell the story of the powerful, miraculous friendship that they have.”
She further added, “I didn’t look for conflict in their relationship. Conflict always comes to them from the outside and they have to fight it. So all the other characters are in this movie and other storylines are coming. Because this is something I’ve thought about a lot. Most of the time, it’s not a conflict between them, maybe it’s a clash of cultures, or maybe it’s an age difference, and (for example) they don’t know music, but that’s not the difference. Conflict, this is not a scene of conflict, but rather a matter of curiosity. There’s a lot of external hostility to this friendship, but this is the story I really wanted to tell: how to become strong and stay strong. ”
bursting the bubble
The film is aimed at a wide audience, “because I think it’s so important to tell stories from outside the bubble. And I think this friendship wouldn’t happen if people from all different kinds of bubbles went into this film and stayed in their own bubbles and had apps and algorithms trying to match them up. You just have to go out and get used to it, but it’s probably the best thing that can happen to you. So I didn’t think about people responding to the invitation to be more curious about certain audiences. This is the audience I’m aiming for. ”
VIP disappeared
Hufnagel’s grandmother was missing from Sunday’s premiere in Munich. “Oh, well… unfortunately she passed away three weeks ago. I wanted to show her the movie. We were very close and Agnes and my grandmother had a lot in common. But yeah… I’m very, very happy to be able to… carry the movie to the end. She passed away almost the week we were finishing everything. It was just so warm and she was so old. It wasn’t because she was sick or sick. She was just so old.”
The film will be released in Germany by X Verleih on November 19th and is, in Hufnagel’s words, “a heartwarming winter movie.” Beta Cinema has international distribution rights.
