Directed by:
Andres VeielScreenplay:
Andres VeielCinematography:
Judith KaufmannComposer:
Annette FocksCast:
August Diehl, Lena Lauzemis, Alexander Fehling, Thomas Thieme, Susanne Lothar, Rainer Bock, Maria Dragus, Joachim Paul Assböck, Hark Bohm, Imogen Kogge (more)Plots(1)
West Germany in the early 1960s. The country is quiet – for the time being. Bernward Vesper takes up his studies in Tübingen where he is attending Walter Jens' seminar on rhetoric. Bernward wants to be a writer and spends his nights bashing the keys of a typewriter. At the same time he is keen to defend his father, the poet Will Vesper who was celebrated by the Nazis as a proponent of their 'Blood and Soil' ideology. The land where Bernward lives is being suffocated by its past. The war has only been over for fifteen years, old Nazis are back in positions of power, and nobody is prepared to talk about war crimes; the Republic is standing to attention. One day Bernward meets Gudrun Ensslin and her friend Dörte. Before long, the three friends are living together in a ménage à trois. But their three-way relationship doesn't last long. It soon transpires that Gudrun and Bernward are twin souls. This marks the beginning of an extreme relationship that is unquestioning and excessive, a love story that goes beyond the threshold of pain. Setting out together to conquer the world, the pair arrives in West Berlin in 1964 where they become part of the left-wing bo-ho set. When the Social Democratic Party agrees to form a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union, Bernward and Gudrun are not the only ones who decide to join the Extraparliamentary Opposition movement. Gudrun and Bernward become part of a social and political upheaval that soon takes hold around the globe: liberation movements, student protests and the Black Panther movement in the USA; drugs and rock 'n' roll. The course of history is inexorable but, at the time, for a moment, it looks as if it might be possible to change its path. If not us, who? And when, if not now? And then another man, Andreas Baader, appears on the scene... (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
![August Diehl](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/162/778/162778239_eb30c1.png)
August Diehl
West Germany
Best movies:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Frau Ella (2013)
The Master and Margarita (2023)
![Lena Lauzemis](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/412/412621_4f5771.jpg)
Lena Lauzemis
Best movies:
Sun Alley (1999)
A Heavy Heart (2015)
If Not Us, Who? (2011)
![Alexander Fehling](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/456/456102_1b6626.jpg)
Alexander Fehling
East Germany
Best movies:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Captain (2017)
Labyrinth of Lies (2014)
![Thomas Thieme](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/093/886/93886078_f8c306.jpg)
Thomas Thieme
Germany
Best movies:
The Lives of Others (2006)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Downfall (2004)
![Susanne Lothar](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/991/159991579_6fe88f.jpg)
Susanne Lothar
West Germany
Best movies:
The Reader (2008)
The White Ribbon (2009)
Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989) (series)
![Rainer Bock](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/018/366/18366256_4081f2.jpg)
Rainer Bock
West Germany
Best movies:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Never Look Away (2018)
The White Ribbon (2009)
![Maria Dragus](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/214/160214429_69eefb.jpg)
Maria Dragus
Romania
Best movies:
The White Ribbon (2009)
Line of Separation (2015) (series)
24 Weeks (2016)
![Joachim Paul Assböck](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/909/159909700_551e46.jpg)
Joachim Paul Assböck
West Germany
Best movies:
Schindler's List (1993)
The Pianist (2002)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
![Hark Bohm](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/162/289/162289356_65055c.jpg)
Hark Bohm
German Empire
Best movies:
Paradis Express (1997)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) (series)
Underground (1995)
![Imogen Kogge](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/157/800/157800148_3472fe.jpg)
Imogen Kogge
Best movies:
Rencontres nocturnes (1999)
Barefoot (2005)
Russendisko (2012)
![Hanno Koffler](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/612/159612341_a3f1cc.jpg)
Hanno Koffler
West Germany
Best movies:
Never Look Away (2018)
Rivals Forever - The Sneaker Battle (2015) (TV movie)
Besondere Schwere der Schuld (2014) (TV movie)
![Sebastian Blomberg](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/452/452530_23b262.jpg)
Sebastian Blomberg
West Germany
Best movies:
Maximilian & Marie De Bourgogne (2017) (series)
Curveball (2020)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
![Johannes Allmayer](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/169/055/169055553_7vsb8i.jpg)
Johannes Allmayer
West Germany
Best movies:
Never Look Away (2018)
Colonia (2015)
Vincent Wants to Sea (2010)
![Greta Bohacek](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/165/844/165844454_c8458c.jpg)
Greta Bohacek
Germany
Best movies:
La Cérémonie (1995)
Freddy/Eddy (2016)
If Not Us, Who? (2011)
![Martin Butzke](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/158/999/158999108_949740.jpg)
Martin Butzke
West Germany
Best movies:
Downfall (2004)
Shoppen (2006)
Jew Suss: Rise And Fall (2010)
![Christina Hecke](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/304/160304645_9907d9.jpg)
Christina Hecke
West Germany
Best movies:
Barbara (2012)
Isi & Ossi (2020)
Allmen (2017) (series)
![Vicky Krieps](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/828/163828264_228ade.jpg)
Vicky Krieps
Luxembourg
Best movies:
Colonia (2015)
3 Days in Quiberon (2018)
House of Boys (2009)
![Stephanie Stremler](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/288/159288715_6c4716.jpg)
Stephanie Stremler
West Germany
Best movies:
The Cakemaker (2017)
The Book Thief (2013)
If Not Us, Who? (2011)
![Björn von der Wellen](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/328/159328969_d5c3e9.jpg)
Björn von der Wellen
Best movies:
The Final Journey (2017)
If Not Us, Who? (2011)
The Fourth State (2012)
![Irene Rindje](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/330/160330555_f709f4.jpg)
Irene Rindje
West Germany
Best movies:
Four Minutes (2006)
Toni Erdmann (2016)
Suck Me Shakespeer (2013)