Gisela

A case of the eternal triangle. Gisela, a young married woman, leads a fairly pleasant existence somewhere in a council flat. Georg and Paul, two happygo- lucky slackers, spend most their time bragging about their sexual exploits and boozing it up. Getting the local girls in the sack was never much of a problem for them. Gisela, however, is not an easy catch, and never was: “Back then I woulda done her, but now she’s just fat, old and ugly,” says Georg. “Besides, she’s still not letting anybody have it.”

But Paul becomes Gisela’s lover. Georg is dead set against it, and gives free rein to his destructive energies. We see three people linked by loneliness. They project their desires onto each other. Their chances of fulfilling their expectations don’t look all that rosy, but as things go on it seems they might even end up finding fortune’s favour.

“For me ′Gisela′ is a story about freedom. (…) Georg, Paul and Gisela are not concerned with morality in a conventional sense, and that’s why it thrills me to find them so modern. Accordingly, I wanted to give the characters a nonjudgemental, matter-of-fact authenticity. “′Gisela′ has three main protagonists. The motivations behind their decisions are never expressed, so the characters and situations trigger a story that develops in the viewer’s mind. In this sense, it can only be personal.” (Isabelle Stever)

Source: 56. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (catalogue)