In
1959, Jewish poet Paul
Celan visited the Engadin
to meet German-Jewish
philosopher Theodor
W Adorno. Adorno, who
found poetry "barbaric"
after Auschwitz, did
not show up. Celan's
Gespräch
im Gebirg deals
with this failed meeting:
it is left unclear whether
the man roving through
the mountains is talking
to someone else or to
himself.
Mattias
Caduff's film poses
him as the protagonist,
as a reader of Paul
Celan's multi-layered
text. His efforts to
approach this difficult
work form the film's
heart. Withdrawn in
his flat, he recites
the Celan story, comments
on it, illustrates and
experiments with it.
The film becomes not
only a document of dealing
with literature but
also about the problematic
relationship between
writing and film.
Jeannette
Leitmont
