You Believe in Angels, Mr. Drowak?

A major name on the European documentary scene for almost two decades, with prestigious premieres at the Berlinale and IFFR, Nicolas Steiner has now made the move towards fiction, with You Believe in Angels, Mr. Drowak? marking his feature debut in that arena (with another project already scheduled for late 2027). It’s already enjoyed a successful festival run (Shanghai, Saarbrücken, Solothurn, Locarno), and will definitely appeal to arthouse aficionados across the German-language realm, owing to its three leads hailing from Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

Luna Wedler (one of the more interesting names in the emerging talent pool from Europe ever since her award-winning breakout performance in Blue My Mind) stars as Lena, an optimistic college student who decides to take on a writing class. The task appears to be a thankless one, as her only student is one Hugo Drowak (Austrian character actor Karl Markovics, best known internationally for starring in the Oscar-winning The Counterfeiters). Once a great writer of love poems, he’s now a misanthrope who thrives on solitude and heavy drinking. But that won’t stop Lena, who believes everyone deserves a second chance, even when their outward behavior doesn’t suggest they have any creative spark left.

Rounding out the main trio is Lars Eidinger, the German star whose eccentric and intense screen personas have earned him accolades worldwide and roles in projects by Tom Tykwer, Olivier Assayas and Noah Baumbach, among others. Alongside Markovics, he feeds the film’s oddball energy and helps Steiner create a universe where everything, while identifiably similar to our world, is just the right amount of pleasantly weird (adding to that, one of the supporting players is Dominique Pinon, a regular of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s movies). Markus Nestroy’s cinematography is another major asset in this context, the black-and-white images (alternating with color) assisting the director in producing a marked contrast to his previous oeuvre – even if just to a small degree, he’s not quite dealing with the real in this case.

At the center of it all, though, is Wedler, embracing her role with wholehearted energy and sincerity. Though seemingly at odds with the overall tone of the picture, Lena’s unflappable optimism is exactly what the film needs to maintain dramatic momentum over the course of two hours, and her chemistry with the rest of the cast makes for an ensemble where everyone feeds off of each other in satisfying ways (quite fitting in the context of a movie where the nominal protagonist needs to have his creativity rekindled).

Whether Lena will succeed with Drowak is, of course, for the viewer to discover. But when it comes to Steiner, his artistic side has definitely been re-energized by this change of pace and filmmaking form, paving the way for a new path that promises to be just as interesting as what we’ve seen across his documentary work.

Director: Nicolas Steiner
Screenwriter: Bettina Gundermann
Cast: Luna Wedler, Karl Markovics, Lars Eidinger, Jan Bülow, Dominique Pinon, Nikolai Gemel, Bettina Stucky
Producer: Pascal Nothdurft, Marc Müller-Kaldenberg, Katrin Renz
Cinematography: Markus Nestroy
Production design: Mikel Serrano
Costume design: Laura Locher
Music: John Gürtler, Jan Miserre
Sound: Bertin Molz, Jan Gubser, Tobias Koch
Production companies: Zieglerfilm Baden-Baden GmbH, tellfilm GmbH, Ziegler Film, Zieglerfilm München GmbH, SWR – Südwestrundfunk, SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, ARTE, WDR – Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln, Hessischer Rundfunk
World sales: Zieglerfilm Baden-Baden GmbH, tellfilm GmbH
Venue: Locarno Film Festival (Panorama Suisse)
In German
127 minutes