STELLA. A LIFE

Germany, 2023, 120 minutes, Colour.

Paula Beer, Jannis Niewohner, Katja Riemann, Damian Hardung, Lukas Miko, Nikolai Will, Ulrich Schmissat, Bekim Latifi.

Directed by Kilian Riedhoff.

Perhaps there should be a question mark after the word “Life” in the title. Yes, this is something of a portrait of Stella, but the question of whether she really had a good life.

There have been many films, of course, about life in Europe from 1939 to 1945, and a good many films showing life in Berlin at the time. An interesting comparison would be the Polish film, Filip. Both are about Jews surviving in Berlin.

Award-winner, Paula Beer (Frantz, Undine) plays Stella, something of a goodtime girl even during the difficult circumstances of 1940, singing with a group, a love of jazz, performing such songs as Let’s Misbehave, rather self-preoccupied, prone to admire herself lovingly in mirrors, bossy with the group, and rather unsympathetic to the young musician upset because his father has been imprisoned. Stella lives with her doting parents. The group do very well gig, perhaps even despite the persecution of the Jews, the world could be opening up for Stella.

Transition to 1943. The world has not opened up. There is Stella, her mother, other friends, working in a German factory, wearing their identification, Jewish star. Most of the film takes place in this 1943, focusing on how Stella deals with the difficult situation, her ambitions, her desire for freedom, has some concern for her husband, greater concern for her parents. She does not look Jewish – rather, blonde hair Aryan. Going out at night, removing the star, flirting with the enemy, making contacts with a Jewish underground, becoming more involved in the forging of passports, and sales.

She has to move from accommodation to accommodation, relying on friends’ support, and for her parents. At one stage, there is a raid in the factory, a sympathetic supervisor letting Stella escape with her parents but has seeing her husband taken off to Auschwitz.

And this is where Stella’s life changes – for her better? Or her worse? Betrayed by a friend to the Gestapo, she is interrogated, treated brutally. However, Stella has been an opportunist and this is what happens to her life, trying to save her parents and herself, appearing in public places, identifying Jews, reporting them, and their being arrested. So, whatever sympathy we had for Stella, diminishes – and audiences will be dismayed at her behaviour, her motivations. She callously betrays friends.

After a long close-up of Stella, 1943, the film suddenly transitions to 1957 to a trial (and there were initial indications that this story was based on trial proceedings). Stella is in court, so many of those she betrayed calling for her punishment, and a sympathetic visit from Aaron who shared the musical experience in 1940, he now in the US with an African-American wife and child, a test case of whether Stella can still elicit sympathy no matter what she has done.

It is really here that the film ends although there is a sequence in 1984, some information about 1994, leaving the audiences thinking about Stella. A Life – or Life?

1. The title, the focus on Stella, a question mark about her life and its significance?
2. A World War II story, the Nazis, the Gestapo, the Jews, concentration camps, industry and work, arrests, questioning and torture?
3. A variation on this theme, Stella, Jewish, in Berlin, 1940, her parents, her ambitions, singing, the US, jazz? Threats, working in the factory, her marriage, her fearful husband, her attempts to survive, connections, passports, sales, becoming more involved, the military and Gestapo connections, the decision to betray the other Jews? The consequences, despised, and the Russian prison, 10 years, TB, the trial in 1957, her freedom, the glimpse in 1984, attempted suicide, final information about suicide in 1994?
4. The re-creation of Berlin in the 1940s, the streets and buildings, costumes and decor for the period? Homes, factories, apartments? The streets, night, the clubs? Gestapo headquarters?
5. The portrait of Stella, age, dressing, touches of vanity, kissing the mirror, the rehearsals, with Fred, putting off his adventures, the swim, the rehearsals, Fred’s fear about his parents, her moodiness, threatening to cancel, the bonds with the rest of the group? The night, the performance, Let’s Misbehave, success? Yet the Jewish tensions? Aaron being happy to talk about jazz, America?
6. The transition to 1943, the work in the factory, the effect on Stella, the survival of the parents, difficulties of accommodation, food stamps? Having to move? Stella and the connection in the factory, enabling an escape from the Gestapo? Moving accommodation? And the bond with her parents?
7. Stella, removing the star, make up, passing for Aryan, out in the night, the fresh air, the encounter with the military man, leading him on, the later sexual encounter, pretending that she was an actress? At home, her husband and his fears? Her friends, the link with Johnny, Rolf, the issue of the passports, the secret meetings, the older man and later setting him up for the rest and his appearance at her trial? Her playing people off the other? Passports, concealing newspapers, photos? Her becoming more and more involved? And the sexual relationship with Rolf? Money, manipulating people for higher payments?
8. The raids, Fred being taken to Auschwitz, her grief? Fears for her parents, survival? The link with the Gestapo, her encounter with Inge, others of the group, her betrayal, the arrest, the interrogation, the brutality and torture? The effect on her, her agreement to spy, walking the streets, making connections, informing the Gestapo? Her friends, the friend with the baby? The mother throwing herself from the balcony? Pretending that Inge was the traitor?
9. Time passing, the effect on Stella, of the Gestapo boss, relying on her, the threats for her parents, promising that they would go to Theresienstadt, the music, his dancing with her?
10. Her compromises, her downfall, her character, vanity, survival?
11. 1957, in court, still looking glamorous, the charges, all the witnesses in their condemnation of her, her story about the Russian camp, TB? Aaron and his presence, their memories of the past, music, America, his marriage, his African-American wife, child? The meeting in the restaurant, her self-justification, challenging him, his walking out on her?
12. The judgement of the court, time served, her being free – her relief, the uproar?
13. The postscript, 1984, dressing up, the mirror and make up, throwing herself from the balcony? The later information that she survived, her death in 1994, suicide?
14. The final notes of the film, the situation of the Jews, the Nazis, persecution, the camps, decisions, survival, responsibility and blame?