Film by Josef Hader
“Andrea is getting a divorce”: Honest provincial portrait
Police operations by Andrea (Birgit Minichmayr) and Georg (Thomas Schubert) are never hectic. photo
© Majestic/dpa
In his second film, director Hader sketches life in the villages of Austria – and makes his viewers laugh at tragic stories.
Actually, Andrea just wants to get away: away from the boring Austrian province, away from her sick father and, above all, away from her husband Andi. In the city, the village policewoman, played by Birgit Minichmayr, starting over as a criminal inspector. But after a birthday party, Andrea’s life gradually begins to unravel.
In “Andrea Gets a Divorce” the Austrian cabaret artist and actor Josef Hader paints a detailed and authentic picture of the Austrian province and its characters. The tragicomedy recently celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale’s Panorama series at the Zoo Palast. Hader’s directorial debut “Wilde Maus”, a portrait of the Austrian middle class, was screened in competition at the 2017 film festival.
Desolation and dry humor
In Hader’s second film, protagonist Andrea doesn’t really fit into village life and is annoyed by alcoholism, the same conversations and the monotony. “It’s a shitty area – the women are moving away and the men are getting weirder and weirder,” is how her colleague Georg (Thomas Schubert) describes life in the Lower Austrian countryside. “Andrea gets divorced” lets its viewers feel the desolation – and yet captivates with its dry humor.
However, the province whose stories Hader tells in the film is not purely Austrian, said the 62-year-old in February on the sidelines of the Berlinale: “These types of isolated areas where people move away are everywhere in Europe and also in America, in the states.” Hader is no stranger to village life: he himself grew up on a farm in Nöchling, Lower Austria – a community of almost 1,000 people, as there are in abundance in Austria.
“I think Josef Hader understood people and life better than his contemporaries,” said actor Robert Stadlober to the dpa. In the film, Stadlober takes on the role of Andrea’s new boss. It means a lot to him to be able to play under the direction of his “absolute favorite artist,” said Stadtlober. “When he calls, everyone comes,” emphasized fellow actress Minichmayr.
Andrea gets divorced, Austria 2024, 93 min., FSK for ages 6 and up, by Josef Hader, with Birgit Minichmayr, Josef Hader, Thomas Schubert, Robert Stadlober