The young Berlin actress Helena Zengel is in the running for the Golden Globe for best supporting actress, the German director Maria Schrader has a chance of winning the coveted trophy for best miniseries with the Netflix production “Unorthodox”. But a third German can also hope for Golden Globe fame: Barbara Sukowa. Born in Bremen, who lives in New York and still has her heart in Berlin, plays the leading role in the film “We Both”. The emotional drama about two intimate friends is a favorite for the Golden Globe as the best foreign film. It’s a French production in which the 71-year-old plays a Berliner who is having a secret affair with her French childhood friend.
What attracted you to the role?
There are thousands of films in which there are romantic relationships between women. But they are always young, beautiful and sexy to increase the attraction for male viewers. I found the story of two old women who were able to maintain their love for a long time very exciting.
They are in demand in Hollywood as well as in Europe. Hand on heart, where would you prefer to be in front of the camera?
I basically prefer to work in my mother tongue. I think German is the best way to play out my strengths. But since I live in America, I also like to work near my home. Basically, it’s always a new adventure to shoot with crews and people all over the world. Like this film in France.
Where do you live in america?
In New York, in Brooklyn. I’m home right now, here you look (rotates 360 degrees with her laptop). I’ve been stuck here for almost 30 years. Actually, at the beginning I only wanted to stay a year and play theater. But then I met my future husband and stayed. My three children also went to school in New York. Of course, I’ve always been to Germany regularly for work. I jet back and forth.
When German films are successful in Hollywood, they are mostly dramas. German comedies, however, never hit. Why not?
Only Germans understand German humor. I recently got my husband and three sons to watch a Loriot movie. In German with subtitles. I laughed myself limp – while my family looked at me strangely. The translation just wasn’t funny. In the end, it’s also a matter of culture.
Do you still feel German or do you feel more American now?
I was already 42 when I came here. You are already formed there, you have internalized your home culture. Everything American, whether school system or politics, is somehow just learned. And even after three decades I still have an accent and am often asked where I came from.
You have worked with many great directors. Who do you remember in particular?
First, Rainer Werner Fassbinder comes to mind. He was the first director who gave me a bigger role. In “Berlin, Alexanderplatz”. The unusual thing about him was that you only had one chance to get a scene right. Because there was always only one flap and then it went on. That means that you couldn’t allow yourself to make mistakes. Fassbinder got the best out of his actors.
Sexual relationships between older people are still taboo in Hollywood to this day.
I think that is true of sexuality in general. In Germany, France and also in the Scandinavian countries we are simply much more open about it. The children get enlightened early in school and we are more liberal as a society. Here in America things are either completely over-sexualized or they are just not addressed at all.
Age is a particularly sensitive issue for women in the film industry. Are you having problems getting older?
Not at all. I am old and happy. To be honest, I am surprised that I’ve held out for so long. I have had a very full life and I look forward to what is to come. I feel younger than I am and look a lot younger too.
I can confirm that!
It’s all pure coincidence, I don’t deserve an award for it. From a young age I liked the thought of being older and more mature. We live in the age of youth madness. Everyone tries to dress themselves young and sound young. You know, this whole young culture that has no real borders any more has more mature influence than necessary.
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