The jury of the festival, presided by prominent US and European director Paul Verhoeven (who had conquered Hollywood with his erotic drama Basic Instinct), rather unexpectedly handed the Golden Bear for Best Film to Hungarian melodrama On Body and Soul (director Ildiko Enyedi – pictured), portraying an uneasy romance between an autistic quality control inspector at a factory and the same factory’s financial director. The second most important award – the Grand Prix of the Jury and the Silver Bear statuette – was awarded to social drama Felicite (by Alain Gomis, France – Senegal – Belgium – Germany – Lebanon), the protagonist of which is trying to save life and health of her son among the poverty and corruption in Democratic Republic of Congo. Spoor by Agnieszka Holland, a veteran of Polish film industry, is a rather bizarre story of a provincial teacher, who exterminates hunters, policemen, and priests for her love of animals; it was awarded the Alfred Bauer Prize for artistic innovation.
The best, according to most critics at the festival, film of the competition The Other Side of Hope (by an outstanding Finnish and worldwide filmmaker Aki Kaurismaeki) was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director. Kaurismaeki managed to combine the perfect form of black comedy with topical content (portraying Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Europe); this combination is, in fact, the perfect one for Berlinale’s competition, but this time, apparently, it turned out not enough.
The Bears for the best female and male leading roles went to Kim Min-hee (On the Beach at Night Alone, director Hong Sang-soo, Republic of Korea) and Georg Friedrich (Bright Nights, director Thomas Arslan, Germany), respectively. Friedrich, who is one of the most popular German actors of today, has got a role in another film of the competition – Wild Mouse (Austria). Finally, the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay went to Sebastian Lelio and Gonzalo Maza (A Fantastic Woman, director Sebastian Lelio, Chile), and the statuette for outstanding artistic contribution was awarded to Dana Bunescu for editing Ana, mon amour (Romania).
The biggest paradox is that it was the first time in almost a decade that the main prize of the festival went to a film completely devoid of any social or political topics – it is a purely intimate, melodramatic story. One can only guess whether this fact can be attributed to Verhoeven’s influence – as the famous director must have certainly liked the plot.
Finally, it will be a pleasure to note that the Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury for Best Film was awarded to a Ukrainian-German documentary drama School No. 3.
The more detailed analysis of the Berlinale main competition’s films is going to be published soon on The Day’s pages.
