Learning to Lie
Encyclopedia
Liegen lernen is a German film released in 2003. It is based on the novel of Frank Goosen
from the year 2000.
in 1982, 18-year old school boy Helmut falls in love with fellow pupil Britta. He starts working for a Peace movement to get to know Britta. Britta, however, suddenly moves to San Francisco to live with her father and whilst there, finds a new boyfriend. Helmut studies literature and politics in his home town and has a relationship with another girl from his former school, now studying medicine on the same university but they break up after having an affair with her room mate. Helmut begins a lot of short affairs with different women but still searches for his first girl.
Years later, in 1989, the Berlin wall
falls and the Cold war
ends. Helmut is lying in his girlfriend's bed when his old school friend Mücke calls him, who saw Britta in Berlin. Helmut hurries to Berlin and finds Britta, but she has changed and has become arrogant. Mücke tells him afterwards that he had an affair with Britta and that Britta has had a lot of affairs. Worried by this, Helmut begins a lot of new affairs and his parents get divorced at that time.
In 1998, Helmut settles down with a girl who wants a baby with him, but Helmut travels one more time to Berlin to meet Britta for one last time.
from the year 2000. While the novel takes place in Bochum
, the film was set in Düsseldorf
. The novel has a lot of biographical moments from Goosen, but the story is typical for a West German youth in the 1980s. The novel became very popular through the great '80s revival in western Germany around the year 2000.
Frank Goosen
Frank Goosen is a German cabaret artist and author.- Biography :Goosen was born in Bochum, Germany. He went to school and university in Bochum, majoring in history, German and literature and politics at Ruhr University Bochum and finishing in 1992 with a Magister degree.Afterward, he founded a...
from the year 2000.
Plot
Beginning in West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in 1982, 18-year old school boy Helmut falls in love with fellow pupil Britta. He starts working for a Peace movement to get to know Britta. Britta, however, suddenly moves to San Francisco to live with her father and whilst there, finds a new boyfriend. Helmut studies literature and politics in his home town and has a relationship with another girl from his former school, now studying medicine on the same university but they break up after having an affair with her room mate. Helmut begins a lot of short affairs with different women but still searches for his first girl.
Years later, in 1989, the Berlin wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
falls and the Cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
ends. Helmut is lying in his girlfriend's bed when his old school friend Mücke calls him, who saw Britta in Berlin. Helmut hurries to Berlin and finds Britta, but she has changed and has become arrogant. Mücke tells him afterwards that he had an affair with Britta and that Britta has had a lot of affairs. Worried by this, Helmut begins a lot of new affairs and his parents get divorced at that time.
In 1998, Helmut settles down with a girl who wants a baby with him, but Helmut travels one more time to Berlin to meet Britta for one last time.
The novel
The film is based on the novel Liegen lernen by Frank GoosenFrank Goosen
Frank Goosen is a German cabaret artist and author.- Biography :Goosen was born in Bochum, Germany. He went to school and university in Bochum, majoring in history, German and literature and politics at Ruhr University Bochum and finishing in 1992 with a Magister degree.Afterward, he founded a...
from the year 2000. While the novel takes place in Bochum
Bochum
Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten and Hattingen.-History:...
, the film was set in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. The novel has a lot of biographical moments from Goosen, but the story is typical for a West German youth in the 1980s. The novel became very popular through the great '80s revival in western Germany around the year 2000.
Cast
- Fabian Busch as Helmut
- Susanne Bormann as Britta
- Fritzi Haberlandt as Gisela
- Sophie Rois as Barbara
- Anka Sarstedt as Gloria
- Birgit Minichmayr as Tina
- Florian Lukas as Mücke
- Tino Mewes as the long Schäfer
- Sebastian Münster as Beck
- Beate Abraham as Helmut's Mother
- Wilfried Dziallas as Helmut's father
- Uwe Rohde as Uwe
- André Meyer as Rüdiger
- Jean Pierre Cornut as Professor Mutter
- Heinz Schubert as uncle Bertram
Crew
- Direction: Hendrik Handloegten
- Script: Frank Goosen and Hendrik Handloegten
- Production: Maria Köpf
- Music: Dieter Schleip
- Camera: Florian Hoffmeister
- Editing: Elena Bromund