Played in “Faltenfrei”. Adele Neuhauser an aging diva, in “Unvarnished” a trans woman. Now the actress can be seen in “Flawless – A Short Wave of Happiness” as the boss of a Munich traditional costume shop: Constanze is cheating on her husband – with a much younger call boy. The shoot was therefore also a challenge for the actress.
Neuhauser told the German Press Agency that she was particularly challenged as an actress and Adele in the intimate scenes: “To overcome my shame and how far do I really want and have to go?”
In the team with director Dirk Kummer and colleague Manuel Rubey, they discussed handling these scenes very sensitively and sparingly – and only going to the last conclusion to a limited extent. “We don’t need to see more than that,” she said. “We already know how to do it.”
But the scenes were important, says Neuhauser. “Hardly any 67-year-old body is flawless and there is no need to be ashamed of it.” The Film can now be seen in the ARD media library (the first shows the 90-minute program this Wednesday (March 11th) at prime time).
She wants to change viewing habits, says Neuhauser: “That must also be possible. So it’s not that we older women should all hire paid call boys, but rather that we as a society simply allow ourselves that older women can also have physical needs.”
The constellation of an older man with a younger woman has been socially recognized for centuries. “But we are still not used to seeing an older woman with a younger man visible in this form.”
But the film deals with much more than the physical aspect: Constanze no longer feels herself, no longer feels seen by her husband after many years of marriage, but she has longings. “I think a lot of people find themselves there,” said Neuhauser. «Often you don’t know why you are dissatisfied, because over many years – as many people who live in a long-term relationship probably know – at some point the relationship becomes normal. And believe that you know each other in every form of life and don’t need to talk about it anymore anyway.”
According to the press release, screenwriter Uli Brée wanted to tell the story of an older woman with needs for love, closeness and visibility, “who takes all of that when it is denied to her.” Who doesn’t fit into her marital fate. «I think there comes a point in life where you can ask yourself: Am I cheating on myself or am I cheating on you? If I stay true to you, will I also stay true to myself?”
When Constanze asks her husband (Ulrich Noethen) whether he still finds her attractive, he just sighs. At the first meetings with the escort she is again unsure: “You don’t think: Oh God, how embarrassing. The old bag has to buy a lover because no one will willingly go to bed with her anymore.”
“What I want to feel I can’t buy.”
And so it’s not surprising that she’s initially disappointed: “These people do it for money,” Constanze tells her friend, who advised her to do the erotic experiment. “They make you believe exactly what you want to hear. But I can’t buy what I want to feel.”
Over time, however, the meetings between the two become more intimate and the conversations more touching. Neuhauser speaks of a romantic tragicomedy.
Because the whole thing changes: Suddenly Constanze and her husband are blackmailed with photos and videos. This also turns into a little crime thriller.
The same team was responsible for the films “Faltenfrei” and “Unmake-Up”. The ARD repeated the two works in recent weeks.
From director Kummer’s point of view, the series shows Neuhauser’s versatility. The actress filled the changing main characters with so much imagination and love, he enthuses in the press release.
Images of women in the media
In Neuhauser’s own words, making older women visible is a concern. And there is still room for improvement. She even says that women between 40 and 60 have a “desert time” ahead of them. “There needs to be more openness,” demands the actress. “And we as filmmakers also have a duty to address these issues. So that we question viewing habits and habits a little bit, purely socially.”
Neuhauser admitted that things were a little different for her: “When I was 40, I was suddenly asked to play a 70-year-old, which I then played with great joy and great popularity.” Julie Zirbner in “Four Women and a Death”. “As a result, I skipped this aging process and was presented to the audience as an old box.”
She also takes this with humor: “It was very funny and I’m glad that I was able to bridge this “fallow situation.”
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