Directed by:
Dominik GrafCinematography:
Hanno LentzCast:
Tom Schilling, Saskia Rosendahl, Albrecht Schuch, Meret Becker, Michael Wittenborn, Petra Kalkutschke, Elmar Gutmann, Aljoscha Stadelmann, Anne Bennent (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Berlin, 1931. A milieu between sublets and the underworld, where brothels are artists’ studios, Nazis are yelling abuse in the streets and Babelsberg is dreaming of producing “psychological cinema”. Life is surging, society is fermenting and corroding. As long as he still has a job, Jakob Fabian, who has a doctorate in German studies, writes advertising copy during the day and frequents the city’s more outlandish establishments with Stephan Labude at night. While his friend – who later confesses to having failed “in the subjects of life and profession” – is a go-getter when it comes to communism and sex, Fabian remains sober and distant. Without really believing in it, he is waiting for the “victory of decency”. His love for Cornelia is the only thing that makes him question his ironic fatalism. She becomes a ray of hope in his crumbling existence. Despite all the parallels with today’s maligned world, bringing Erich Kästner’s deeply sad, autobiographical “Fabian” – one of the most important novels of the Weimar Republic – out of the shadows is a challenge. Dominik Graf masters it brilliantly. His style is finely pointed, cold-bloodedly brisk and yet quietly melancholic. A film like a slowly turning disco ball, about the connections between sexual intercourse and an empty fridge – and the disintegration of the dream of happiness. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Tom Schilling
East Germany
Best movies:
Generation War (2013) (series)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Never Look Away (2018)
Saskia Rosendahl
Germany
Best movies:
Never Look Away (2018)
We Are Young. We Are Strong (2014)
Lore (2012)
Albrecht Schuch
East Germany
Best movies:
System Crasher (2019)
54 Hours (2018) (series)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Meret Becker
West Germany
Best movies:
Comedian Harmonists (1997)
Life Is All You Get (1997)
Munich (2005)
Michael Wittenborn
West Germany
Best movies:
Curveball (2020)
The German Lesson (2019)
Toni Erdmann (2016)
Petra Kalkutschke
East Germany
Best movies:
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Die Treue-Testerin - Spezialauftrag Liebe (2008) (TV movie)
Elmar Gutmann
Best movies:
Alaska.de (2000)
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021)
The Signal (2024) (series)
Aljoscha Stadelmann
West Germany
Best movies:
The Billion Dollar Code (2021) (series)
Lessons of a Dream (2011)
Carlos (2010) (TV movie)
Anne Bennent
Switzerland
Best movies:
Die Wildente (1976)
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994)
Séraphine (2008)
Eva Medusa Gühne
Best movies:
Before Snowfall (2013)
Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001)
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021)
Jörg-Uwe Schröder
Best movies:
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021)
The Beloved Sisters (2014)
Kris Kwiat
Best movies:
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021)
Bodycheck – Mit Herz durch die Wand (2017) (TV movie)