The director and Oscar winner Stefan Ruzwoitzky rewrote the story for his film adaptation of “Narcissus and Goldmund” and says: You have to do that when it comes to a contemporary image of women. Due to the corona crisis, the film is now available as a stream.
By David Baum
Mr. Ruzowitzky, generations of students had to struggle with Hermann Hesse’s “Narcissus and Goldmund”, for many it also became a life story. Which group did you belong to?
It was like my first literary love. A door opener for adult literature.
So a long-cherished dream to make a film out of it?
To be honest, I have to say no. It’s not an active decision, the stuff kind of came back to me by being offered to me. Sometimes you have to trust the stuff to come to you.
The Austrian Stefan Ruzowitzky became internationally known with his film “The Counterfeiters” and won the Oscar in 2008
© Werner Himmelbauer
Is this highly psychologized medieval story still good as coming-of-age material for young people today?