Family Crypt – A Love Poem to My Mother

‘Familiengruft – Ein Liebesgedicht an meine Mutter’, FRG 1982, directed by Maria Lang, 11 min, with English subtitles, rating: 12

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Director Maria Lang creates a montage of her family’s old photographs and newly shot film footage, accompanied by a poetic, autobiographical commentary. Here, we see a family that was not untypical of the German post-war period in a small-town, bourgeois milieu: the father is a dominant figure, waited on by a patient, subservient mother. A belated attempt to break their silence fails. A braided loaf symbolizes the family’s lack of communication throughout their lives. 

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