The Farewell

Story

An unusual hot summer. Bertolt Brecht is spending the last day of the vacation at his holiday home by a lake in Brandenburg, surrounded by women: his wife Helene Weigel, daughter Barbara, assistant Elisabeth Hauptmann, his former lover Ruth Berlau, actress Kaethe Reichel and Isot Kilian, one of his admirers. They spend the day swimming, smoking, arguing, eating, writing and sitting together in silence. This film depicting one of the last days in the poet’s life addresses love, hatred, passion, ambition, egoism, hope and betrayal, whilst portraying the ageing Brecht’s struggle for a future that he himself will have no part in.

Jan Schütte about The Farewell:

The great challenge in concentrating the action on one day was how to bring together the very simple and the very complex aspects. Hell unfolds on a glorious day in late summer. The characters are meant to be uncompromising and highly complex, yet nonetheless a straightforward film. Brecht’s situation raises a question he also frequently tackled in his plays: to what extent should an artist become involved with the powers that be? Doesn’t such involvement mean making a pact with the devil?