Lou Andreas-Salomé, The Audacity To Be Free, 2016
Film screening and discussion with the composer
Serving as a muse or the inspiration behind creative efforts is quite a fine task, except for the fact that posterity usually awards the top spot to the artist, not the muse, when it comes to giving credit for a work. Cordula Kablitz-Post's film Lou Andreas-Salomé upsets our views and prejudices in this regard quite handily. Because no one senses a problem when we refer to Lou Andreas-Salomé, a writer, philosopher and the first female psychoanalyst, simply as the lover of Rainer Maria Rilke, Friedrich Nietzsche's intellectual partner and the object of his adoration, or perhaps as a student of Freud's. The question is: are we able to recognise her in her own right?
It is a remarkable biographical film. Although the director accurately follows the twists and turns of Lou's life, her film also moves into philosophical reflection. This was inevitable, as Lou's career, relationships, and thinking inescapably led to the idea of freedom. And in this case, we have many different interpretations of freedom. What does it mean to be free in a world that dictates the roles and destinies of women? In a world that is not so free, can the assumption of freedom be interpreted as a form of provocation? How much responsibility does someone bear for defending her independence to the point of clawing against social norms with her fingernails? And why do men (and sometimes women as well) feel - even out of love, desire or simple affection - that Lou should be deprived of her autonomy? And how is it that the freedom Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861-1937) so audaciously made her own is still disturbing today? Exciting questions. And exciting cinematic treatments. It's clever how the film shows the wanderings of its protagonist through contemporary postcards, and the music by composer and pianist Judit Varga deserves at least as much attention. This soundtrack elegantly avoids all clichés and sensitively pulsates along with the fate and spirit of our heroine.
Director: Cordula Kablitz-Post
Featuring:
Host: András Réz
Composer, conversation partner: Judit Varga
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