Mutzenbacher

Ruth Beckermann’s film won the best film award at the 2022 Berlinale (Encounters section) and we are happy to have a chance to show it to our audiences. In the German-speaking cultural circle, the popularity of the book Josefine Mutzenbacher: or The Story of a Viennese Whore published over a century ago seems to be definitely greater than in Poland, but not having read it isn’t an obstacle to understanding what’s at stake in this film. Mutzenbacher analyses the phenomenon of sexualization of contemporary culture and the dominant discourses of sexuality, through the prism of male understanding. Beckermann confronts hundreds of men with fragments of the hundred-year-old novel, observes their reactions, records emotions and listens to their interpretations – however, she does not enter into any significant dialogue with the protagonists.
Thanks to this, she manages to produce a dynamic and multi-faceted portrayal of masculinity trapped between the clinging patriarchy and positions that openly contest it. It is a reflective film, to be discovered long after leaving the cinema, and simultaneously essential commentary on the current state of our culture